Day Walkers
by Greentreetall
Summary: Bella grew up deep underground, never seeing the light of day. That is, until she and fifteen others were taken and brought up to the city ruins to die. Now, surviving is the only choice, even if that means braving the light and the Day Walkers.
1. Daylight

_Daylight – Run Kid Run_

_Give your love away  
>No matter what tomorrow brings<br>I'll be waiting in the daylight_

Hair whips against my face as I turn and look behind me.

They're coming.

I look back to the blurring city ruins, pushing my legs to move me faster.

Sharp pieces of broken concrete cut into my feet through my thin shoes, slicing at the animal hid. Broken piping scrapes along my calves, as the bloodied grass leaves streaks against my legs.

My lungs burn against my rib cage, doting my vision with tiny bursts of colour. My legs feel heavy, weighting my down with each pound of my feet. My head swims, cotton presses against my ears.

_Move, move faster. _

The sharp hiss of an arrow slices my echoing footsteps as it beds itself in the skin of my thigh. Pain blindsides me, crippling my stride and causing me to stumble. Blood burns my skin, soaking the back of my leg.

I make my legs keep moving, ignoring the urge to pull the metal from my skin. I feel the arrowhead scarp the bone, pulling pained yelps from my chapped lips. Each step burns, the fire eating away at my flesh as the arrow moves with my legs, slowly ripping more of my skin.

Harsh laughter echoes through the ruins, piercing my eardrums, pounding against my skin. The unsteady thump of my stumbling steps thunders against the crumbling buildings, bouncing back against the rusted iron frames.

The cities skeletons cast shadows along the cracked street, patterning the road in mangled shapes. Rusted lamp posts lay across the road their bases rusted and eaten away. The wires, long since tarnished, glint through their thin plastic covers, reaching towards the sky like broken fingers. The heads lay against the asphalt, their faces nothing but shattered glass, their bodies intercepting each other like teeth. Rusty metal bones tower over me, their bricked skin long since withered away leaving nothing but the bare insides of the buildings people once came to ogle. Massive slabs of stone and pavement that were torn up and thrown lay in piles; the sickly yellow grass that has broken through the blacktop in the streets grows wildly among the broken stone.

I bunch my legs and leap over the first stone heap, stumbling as my feet make contact on the other side. My thigh burns as the arrowhead buries further into my skin. It bobs at the impact slicing my flesh.

Wind screams through the buildings, making the bodies of the ancient metal squeal as they sway.

The sun reflects against the glass, the rays glinting against the pane and casting burst of bright light against the dying city.

Screams erupt, scraping the silence like glass on skin. Their pleas dig themselves inside my brain, burrowing deep in my mind.

Then the gun shot rings, the blast bursting through the still air and capturing the victims' last words in nothing but a gurgled mess.

Panic fills my lungs like water, choking me from the inside and drowning me in fear. My legs give out from underneath me, sending me flying against the concrete. Stone imbed themselves in my skin, ripping at my flesh as I skid.

Pain blooms under my eyes as blood drips from my nose and along my teeth, making me spit against the metallic tang that runs along my tongue. Heat flares against my raw skin, slowing engulfing my body in a crippling pain. The stones that found home in my flesh scrape against the asphalt as I push up to my knees and lean around to grab the arrow. I hold my breath against the pain, feeling the blade as it tugs on muscle before slowly slipping from my skin.

I grasp for air as I throw the arrow to the side, the head scraping along the stone as it skids away. My palms burn, the skin hanging away from where it was torn from my palms, I wince as I brush them against the roughness of my pants.

I press my hands against the ground and force myself to stand. My hands shake as I untie the piece of leather from around my waist and retie it around my upper thigh.

The heat from the sun burns against my skull, crisping my skin, and blistering my eyes as I turn and look around me. I blink past the tears that rapidly fill my sockets, my body's way of desperately trying to cool them and try to focus on my surrounding and not the pain that is my body.

The sound of heavy clad feet rumble close by and my heart misses a beat, painfully throbbing in my chest. I force myself to limp across the street and over a rusted street sign away from the middle of the street.

The doors to an old movie theatre stand open, the once polished woods hangs rotting on rusted hinges, the handles hanging by old screws and singing gently back and forth, their desperate squeal grating against my ears . The sign above the entrance is cloaked in a thick layer of black grime, the once light up sign gapes with holes and broken plastic letters that once told the _Coming Soons'_. Black ash lays the ticket booth, the lush colours faded from time and weather, the glass barrier smashed, along with all the poster display cases, that now house nothing but rotting paper.

Gunshots rain through the air, the metallic echo of the bullets as they embed themselves in the iron bones that tower around us. I push my feet against the ground and throw myself into the darkness of the theatre. Glass digs into my legs through my pants, sending shocks of stinging pain through my body as I drag myself farther away from the light and further into the darkness.

The carpet is thick with moisture and mould, the fabric squishes under the weight of my body, leaking like a wound and soaking my pants. Bodies lay strew throughout the lobby, their corpses bloated like balloons filled with water. Sunken eyes stare back into mind, their eye colour white-d out, just like mine. Mouth hang in silent screams, their tongues filling their mouths completely. I gag on the smell, their death hanging heavily in the air, a blanket coating my lungs.

Feet pound on the ground, their boots crushing the glass, grinding it to dust.

"Where the fuck did she go?" one of my hunter snarls to another.

"Shut the fuck up, I'm trying to listen" growls another.

Silence engulfs us all, freezing my movements.

I feel the tiny claws dig into my pants as something crawls over my leg its tail swishing against my arm, the boney length wrapping around my skin. I bite my lip against the scream that builds in my throat as its teeth begin to bite at my pants, pulling at the strands of the tough fabric. I feel it's teeth as it digs into skin, jolting me at the shock of pain. I feel my foot hit something hard and send it flying across the lobby, crashing to the floor with a metallic ring. I bite my scream into my arm as I smack at the creature on my lap hearing it squeal as it lands away from me with a sickening thump.

"Did you hear that?" hisses someone, their voices moving closer.

The hard thump of steel toed boots hitting pieces of concrete moves closer to the theatre doors and I pull myself father in – ignoring the pain in my thigh – until I hit something hard, the concession stand. Keeping the door in my sight I run my fingers along the floor, my hands sliding over broken glass.

Shadowed silhouettes of two figures loom in the doorway.

"Dude, if you think I am going in there again, you're out of your fucking mind" says someone.

"I heard something" says the other.

"Then you go in there" says the first guy.

"Get Edward, he has a working flash light" says the second guy. The second figure turns on his heels and runs in the other direction, his boots pounding against the stone.

"I know you are in there" he sings. "Don't worry sweets; we are going to take good care of you."

I skim my fingers of the shards of glass, my fingers tracing the jagged edges.

"Why don't you just come out here, and we'll make sure we take extra care with you" his body hangs just out in the little, the gun hangs loosely in his grip, the barrel pointed down.

"Not 'fraid of the dark are you?" I taunt as my finger curl around the wider end of the glass shard.

His jaw pulses, as his teeth grind together. His boot crunches against the glass as he steps forward. "It's not me who should be afraid, Darkie" he mocks, his boots standing at the threshold.

"And yet, you're the one shaking" I say, my legs quivering as I push myself up using the concession stand as leverage.

"Dark won't stop a bullet."

"You'll need to see me to shot me, or do you need a flash light for that?" I mock as I slide along the counter away from the door.

"I can see without light, Darkie" he sneers.

"Not as well as I can" I whisper as I sink back into pure blackness.

The man steps in the darkness flooding his body and blacking his out from the world. I watch as his pupils dilate, trying to take in as much light as they can as he walks blinding through the theatre lobby. His hands aren't outstretched but he stumbles every other step, his movements slow, unsure.

I step around a decomposing body and walk slowly towards him, stalking him, as he did me, not even minutes before.

The shard of glass in my hand is cuts into my palm as I clench my hand in anger as I watch one of my captures fail helplessly in the dark.

Not so much fun is it.

I walk up to him until I am almost right beside him. He foot nudges a corpses head and it squishes against his foot. He gulps and turns to look at the light in the doorway that's nothing but a square of light from the theatre hallway that he managed to manoeuvre.

He's breathing unevenly, his chest raising and falling as he gulps for air. His tongue runs over his dry lips as he whips his head back and forth.

"Tsk tsk," I say clucking my tongue at him.

He jerks his head to one side.

"Didn't your mother tell you to never go out in the dark?" I ask sweetly, my mouth close to his ear.

He turns around quickly, his eyes wide as he squeezes the trigger of his pistol, the bullet sparks as it leaves the barrel, momentarily lighting us up.

I feel the heat of the bullet wiz past my cheek and the burst of white light burns my eyes. I hiss, my eyes watering.

I twist the glass in my hand, curling my fingers around the wide end and stabbing the shard into his hand making him drop the gun. It clatters to the ground, the carpet muffling the sound and I kick it away.

"I hate guns" I breathe at him and twist the glass, making him cry out and swipe at me.

I duck and withdraw the glass quickly, readjusting my grip, I plunge it into the side of his neck, the point nicking tendons and his wind pipe as it sinks deeper into his flesh. I watch as his eyes go wide, the whites shining in the darkness. His mouth opens, a river of blood pouring over his white lips, he sputters, the blood spraying and hitting my face. I twist the glass, the blood spurts as I cut the artery. It gushes over my hand and down my arm. I pull it out and watch as his heart pumps the blood, making it spray out and coat my shirt.

I slash his throat, and watch as blood pours from the wound and runs down his chest. He clutches himself and gurgles helplessly. His knees give out and he falls, his body wobbling as he hit the ground.

I shudder as I look down at the body and then at myself. Bile rises in my throat, threatening to capture me. I push it down and move towards the light.

The first burst of sunlight burns my retinas, making my eyes water and I let out a painful moan as I run through the street, closing my eyes against the pain.

The sound of pounding boots echoes in my head, all around my mind and I force myself to open my eyes, to a blurry world.

Nothing is as clear as it is when it's dark.

"Where the hell is, Riley?" roars one of the hunters from somewhere behind me.

"Fucking hell!" yells the other and I can't help it: a laugh of pure menace escapes my chapped lips.

_**xxx**_

I've heard the stories of how life wasn't always like it is now.

The elders talk about a time when our kind didn't exist. When everyone saw in the light, and were blinded in the dark. They would talk of places off across the waters, exotic forests and towering hills.

Of times when we weren't always afraid of what walked in the sunlight. Things aren't like that anymore.

The Day Walkers hunt us like game. Trapping us, kidnapping us, than setting us free again just to shoot us down. They raid the Dark World cities, breaking through our gates and traveling underground to take people they think won't be missed.

Just like they took me.

I remember the sounds, the screams the shattered the silence in our housing complex and froze my heart in its frantic beats.

I remember the pain, the wooden door splintering as it was shot down, and the lights that flooded the room, burning me.

I remember the fear, the way they poured through the broken threshold, masks pulled tightly over their faces. Guns pointed at me, lights taped to each barrel.

I remember the heat, the way they pushed the hot metal of the pistol against my throat, and pulled my hair, wrapping my thick roped braid around their hand and jerking me forwards.

I remember how they pushed my forwards, my knees buckling under me and falling out from under my weight, and sending me skidding across the stone floors.

The rough hands that grabbed me, yanking my arms up and pulling me forwards, knocking my knees against the ground.

The canvas that rubbed my face raw as they pulled it over my head and tightened it around my burned throat.

The gloved hands that covered my mouth, stopping any scream that might have found its way up my throat.

The rope that wrapped around my wrists, the rough cord biting into the skin and breaking flesh.

The way I cried out against the hand that stayed firmly placed over my canvas covered lips, my eye open against the bag.

I remember the sounds of her screams as she cried; the sound of flesh smacking flesh, the sickening slap of a body hitting the ground and then silence, the ringing that drilled against my skull as the sound of heavy breathing bounced against the walls.

Then nothing at all.

_**xxx**_

The smell of gunpowder laces the air, coating my throat as I move through the city. Bodies lay bloated and rotting in piles, their mouths open in the screams that were tore from their lips at their death. White-d eyes pushing against their sockets stare forward at the crumbling brick of the alley that I pass through.

My feet throb as I push my body through the mouth of the alley, and through the empty street.

Screams of anger roar through the skeleton-like city, wrapping around me like the claws of a starved beast, cutting of my short amount of air and blinding me with panic.

I feel my feet begin to slide across the concrete before my feet slip out from underneath me and spend my body skidding across the heated pavement.

The rugged blacktop scratches at my already ruined flesh, dragging stone fingers across my skin. My legs sprawl out around me, the flesh of my hands ripping away and stinging as my body stops moving.

Pain rushes over my body, consuming me in blazing waves of throbbing. I bite my tongue against the wails of pain that build against my throat and force myself to sit up. My arms shake as I push my back onto my shins, resting my backside against my feet.

I stare at my pants, black with blood.

My lungs seize and my head spins.

My hands shake as I lift them from my thighs.

Blood on snow, my pale hands glisten crimson, slowly dripping from my ripped skin and down my bloodied arms. I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand and pull it back to stare at the black-red smear the now mars my skin.

My body shakes as I look at the street around me, my breathing laboured and broken. The pavement glints a dark crimson in the setting sun, almost black.

Bodies lay strewn across the street, bodies of people I grew up with, massacred, stomach ripped open, throats cut, faces cut beyond recognition, their lives slowly leaking from their shells and painting the road red.

The scream that leaks from my lips is strangled, the sound sticking to my throat and dying. Tears burn my eyes, staining the world as they drop from my lids and run down my blood tainted skin.

_**xxx**_

Angela's body lies with three other women from our complex.

Her brown hair matted to her forehead as her white-d eyes stare at the ground, stare at nothing.

My legs shake as I kneel down beside her, my arms barely holding my weight as I press them against the ground for support.

Her arms lay beside her, her legs bent at the knee lay to the side of her, her head lolled against her shoulder, her back pushed against the wall.

Her blood stains the brick behind her, three ragged holes line the bloodied stone where the bullets made home after ripping through her stomach. Smeared lines lead from where she was standing down to the ground when she slid down.

Her wrists are sliced from the ropes they tied as with, the blood dark and crusted over.

I brush my trembling fingers against her cheek, the tips coming way bloody.

I watch the sunlight play with the colours, making my stomach clench as the blood transforms in front of my eyes.

I press my palms to the pavement and clench my fingers, pulling them into fists. My lips tremble, my vision blurs as the tears pool under my lids.

Footsteps pound behind me, their steel toed boots crushing against the stone streets and pounding against my head.

My heart skips a painful beat before pumping fear through my system. My muscles ache for me to move. But everything feels heavy like my veins are lined with lead.

The sound of the shot gun cocking behind my head pulses against my brain. It echoes through the barren city– the sound of the bullet being pushed into the barrel. My body screams for me to move, to try and survive, but everything feels locked in place with the bullet.

"Turn over, Darkie" a masculine voice drawls behind me. When I don't move they press the back of the gun against my head, butting me forwards before stepping around and turn me over with their boot.

Dark green eyes stare at me, framed with dark lashes set in an angry scowl. A tanned face with sharp cheeks, with coppered hair and full lips pressed tightly together stare down at me, all wrapped together with a shotgun pointed at my forehead and his finger dancing on the trigger.

I must have looked like the complete contrast to this boy. With my pale eyes, pale skin and dark hair we looked exactly what we were, night and day.

My throat tightens and the scream that tries to break free from me gets caught inside.

He smiles at my fear.

Anger boils in my stomach as I look from him to Angela. Her eyes staring at the blood covered street. Fury rises up my throat, tearing at the tightness and leaving a metallic tang through my mouth as an animalistic growl brakes past my lips, ripping against my teeth.

"Everyone always says that Darkie are stupid, but I never believed it until I saw your pathetic ass snivelling over some dead body right back where you started" his accent thickens his words. He shakes his head at me and I glare up at him.

"Go to hell" I hiss, my chest raising and falling quickly as I draw in deep breaths.

"Typical" he shakes his head again "so rude." He pushes the shotgun harder against my forehead, making the metal press deep into my skin. "Savage" he spits. "Pa always used to say you were no better than the animals we train."

"You always listen to your dad?" I spit at him.

"If I did, I'd be dead already, darlin'" he drawls and an evil smile spreading across his tanned face.

I stare at him taking in his toned body and tall stance. "I'm not your darling" I say without emotion.

The boy shifts to the side and the little sunlight that's left shines right into my face, I cry out in pain, twisting away from the heat, and the shotgun, it falls from my head and press against my throat.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did that hurt?" he asks, sarcasms lacing his words.

"Bastard" I spit.

The boy grabs my shoulder and yanks me up and away from Angela.

I try and lunge away from him but his hand tightens around my shoulder and pressing down. Pain licks against my mind, making everything blur.

I blink furiously trying to clear my eyesight before I kick out at him. My heel makes contact with his shin, but he doesn't sway. He hisses at the pain but doesn't stop moving.

My captor doesn't bother to look where he steps as he walks among the corpses. I hear the sickening crunch as his boot grinds into the neck of a young man.

I feel my stomach lurch and I struggle harder.

"Let me go!" I screech, my voice echoing through the ruins.

"Hey Edward, did you find her?" calls someone from a block away. I whimper yank at my shoulder.

He doesn't even seem to notice.

"Yeah, huggin' some girl's body" he calls out. I look up at him to see he's smiling a little. Like my pain is hilarious.

But then again, to him it probably is.

Edward pulls me along as we head towards the voice.

We round a block and come face to face with six more boys. All very tanned and very toned. I tug on my shoulder again, my muscles screaming against the motion.

"Stop that" he hisses.

A tall boy with hair so black it looks blue walks up to us and picks up a piece of my long dark hair, now loose from its braid and matted with blood.

I lunge forward with all my body weight and try to grab him with my free arm. He jumps back and Edward pulls me back, snapping my body and grabs my free arm, yanking it back to the other.

"She's hot, for a Darkie, although that skin is a total turn off" says the Black-Haired Kid as he eyes my white skin.

"Touch me again and there will be nothing left to turn on" I hiss and lunge against Edward's hold.

"Nothing I haven't seen before" drawls Edward from behind me like I'm not even here. "Now quit messin' and help me, Jake."

Black-Haired Kid's or Jake's eyes roam over my body again before he walks around me and takes my hands from Edward.

I feel the heat from his body press against my back as he stands behind me.

The rest of the boys are all leering at me, their eyes so angry they burn.

Acidic fear burns in my throat.

Oh my God, are they going to take turns beating me to death?

"She's scared" says Jake and they all laugh. Then to me he says "You know, you where the only one to survive, the only one to ever survive this long actually" he stops inhales deeply. I stiffen and curl my hands into fists.

Edward is looking at me funny, his eyes staring at mine. His dark into my pale. I blink at him and he frowns before turning away to look at everyone else.

"We need to move." says Edward and when no one moves he snaps "Now" and Jake tightens his hands around my wrists and pushes me forward.

"Wait, we can't just take her back" hisses some boy.

"What would you suggest?" asks Edward raising an eyebrow at him and folding his thick ropey covered arms across his chest.

"Kill her, no one would ever suspect one survived, they wouldn't know the difference."

"She survived, we have to take her back" snaps Edward and the other suddenly finds the broken pavement extremely interesting. "And then they'll kill her" they laugh.

I glare at him.

"We have to go, it's getting dark" says Jake and pushes me forward to make me walk.

I look up at the sky and meet the eyes of the moon. The pale whiteness that has begun to cast the bright world into darkness.

I sigh as the pain from the sun begins to fade away slowly, draining away like a poison.

Nowadays it gets dark so fast one second it's bright and then next its pitch black.

The shadows dance along the broken buildings casting eerie faces across the landscape.

I whip my head around and take in my surroundings. Concrete and pavement chunks are piled all over the ground, with road signs and posts littering the ground. I smile slightly as I watch the Day Walkers fumble around me.

I look around to Jake and smile.

He sucks in a breath as my eye reflect the moons light.

"I just love the dark, don't you?" my fear draining away with the pain.

"I hate it" he says spits as Edward clicks on a flashlight.

"That's because you live in fear of what you cannot see" I say and turn back to look around.

"Fear is for the weak" he says and I chuckle.

I shake my head and turn to watch Edward swing the light around like a sword swiping cleanly through the darkness, the muscles in his back tensing with each swing.

"Don't you think you're wasting the light, using it like that?" I nod towards Edward even though I know Jake can't see me.

We pass under an overpass the arch of the road above crumbling around us, chunks of the road sitting in the middle of the street as we follow the old highway away from the ruins.

"Not in the least" he says.

"It'll go out eventually."

"Then we'll get another" he shrugs.

"That's wasting a resource you may not have forever" I say and watch the light. "And honestly, think about it, you have your time of day and I have mine. We don't bring darkness when you have your light, so why should you bring light when we have our darkness?" I ask and look behind me again.

"Your logic is fucked" he says and I scowl.

"I'm not afraid of you" I state turning to stare at the stars as they twinkle above us.

I don't fear Day Walkers at night, they should fear me.

"Nor am I of you" says Jake confidently.

"Then you're stupider then I thought."

Jake twists my arms and that ends our conversation.

The group veers to the left and we walk onto a ramp and up on another overpass.

The stars wink against the dark canvas, staring down at us as we walk the dark roads.

The road beneath our feet is crumbling in spots. Gaping holes leading back down to the pavement underneath us line the road in a random pattern.

I cock my head to the side and watch Edward ahead of me, wondering if he knows.

"Stay in a line, the holes have gotten worse" he shouts.

Guess he does.

"You don't need to lead me" I say to the whole group and some laugh. "I can see perfectly fine."

"Sorry, darlin', that's a good trick but there is no way we are letting you walk around freely, we all saw Riley" Edwards voice is softer when he speaks of the boy I killed.

"I'm not your darling" I mutter and flick my head to the side to fling my hair out of my eyes.

"Hey, watch it" spits Jake as some of my hair hits him in the face.

"Oops." I shrug.

We walk single file along the side of the bridge. I watch as a boys' foots slips the odd time when the holes have gotten too big. They walk with their hands planted on the guard rail and their other out to their side, their heads down and watching their feet.

Soon I feel the road begin to slope and we walk down and off the road. I bite my lip to try and stop the smile that threatens to stretch across my lips as they led me into the towering forest and onto a small path that leads to their cities.

Stupid Day Walkers, I shake my head. They really should have blind folded me.

We walk through the forest, gigantic tress bordering the path; thick canopies of moss hang from the branches like curtains.

I watch the Day Walkers as they stumble along the uneven path away until we reach a clearing, no more than an hour in. They spread out, dropping their bags and turning to go off to the trees that boarder the wide open space.

"Take the Darkie and lock her up" shouts Edward tossing the flashlight to Jake as he pulls on my wrists and pushes me toward a massive tree.

"You know" I say and look behind me "as much as I love being called the Darkie, I do have a name."

Jake chuckles, "And you what me to know this because?" he asks.

"Well would you like it if I called you Moronic Pig? Or Dumbass?" I ask sweetly.

He grunts.

"I didn't think so. So my name's Bella" I say.

"Jake" he says and pushes me again.

A pair of chains and shackles hang from the trunk, the cuffs a rusted metal. .

Jake crouches beside me and pins my hands over my head to snap the cuffs around my wrist. I slide down the trunk and sit on dirt covered ground.

"You know, not to be a nuisance or anything but isn't this a little middle ages?" I ask holding up my shackled wrists. "It is 2199 after all."

"Be thankful we aren't tying ropes around you and bounding you to a bed" he smiles, but it's not a nice smile. "Someone might take advantage of you then" he winks at me, making my skin crawl.

"My skin is to pale remember? It's a total turn off" I mock him.

"Your eyes make up for the lack of a tan" he sneers at me.

I say nothing and look towards the forest.

Jake sits down in front of me, too far for me to touch him and says "I have never seen your colour before, it's almost purple."

"Congratulations, you know your colours" I hiss at him.

He leans forward and grabs my chin, tilting my head up and shinning the light into my eyes so the colour reflects.

I hiss and close them against the pain. "Fucking bastard" I spit, my eyes burning. I jerk my face out of his hands and squeeze them tightly.

"A simple thanks is all that's needed" his smile doesn't hold any but malice.

"Sorry, all I've got is a 'fuck you', will that do?" I mumble shaking my head before looking back up at him. "Then again" I pause "maybe I guess I should be saying thanks. I was after all always taught to take a compliment from a man instead of breaking his wrist. 'It'll help with our breeding' was what my mom always said." I lean forward against the chains. "You see, we're a dying breed, so sad isn't it?" I ask, cocking my head to the side. "We won't last much longer, another couple generations then that's it for us. But I guess that would make you happy" he opens his mouth to say something but I cut him off "although, I guess if we were to all die out you'd have no more fun hunts with your buddies, eh? Pissing competitions can't be as entertaining as killing a Darkie, right?" I clench my fists.

"I don't know-"

"Get the fuck away from me" I lean back and stare at him, my eyes flashing, watching as he pushes himself up and walks away.

My fists ache as I loosen them, my fingers cramped and white from the lack of blood. I rub my wrist underneath the dirty cuffs, trying to rub the pain that flares each time they rub against my skin. My thigh throbs from the arrow wound, along with my hand and arm, now scabbed over and crusting with dried blood.

I move my head from side to side trying to loosen the tendons in my neck before flexing my fingers and twisting my ankles around.

I close my eyes and pull my knees up to my stomach. I lay my throbbing head on them and breathe deeply through my nose.

Angela's eyes stare at me from behind my eye lids. Her face creased as she screams for me to run. Her bloodied face as she pushes me forward and away from her towards the deeper parts of the city. Her eyes as she stared at me when they pulled the bags off our heads. The last time I would ever talk to her.

"_Bella" she whispers, her hand wrapping around mine. "Don't let them get you" she murmurs. _

"_They won't" I mumble back to her "neither of us." I squeeze her hand as some of them move around us, cutting the ropes while the others point guns in our direction._

"_You have to promise" she rushes out. _

"_They won't get us Ang" I mumble as Day Walkers move around us. _

"_Promise" she hisses, her hand crushing mine. _

"_I promise, alright?" _

_They move away from us and stand in a line their weapons raised. _

"_You have two minutes to move the fuck along and _try _and hide" shouts one of them, they all cock their firearms. _

_My heart stops before picking up and pumping adrenaline through my veins. I scramble up, holding Angela's hand tightly in mine and pull her away from the death line. _

"_Bella" says Angela, pulling her hand but I hold tightly."Bella, you have to let go." I shake my head. _

"_We have to stick together" I say, pulling her through an alleyway. _

"_No Bella" she pulls her hand free and stops. "Only one of us if going to make it" my feet stumble and I turn to look at her. _

"_I promised they wouldn't get us." I say reaching for her hand again. _

"_No" she shakes her head and steps away from me "you promised you wouldn't let them get you." _

"_Angela" my voice shakes "What are you doing?" she backs away from me and back towards the death line. _

"_You're going to live Bella" she smiles "don't let them get you." I run towards her but she pushes me away from her. "goddamn it Bella, run!" _

_I hear the guns explode around us, and the inhuman cries as the bullets find purchase within flesh. _

_I step towards her again but she puts her hand up "You promised" she turns and runs back. _

_Back to her death._

_I stare after her, a scream caught in my throat as the bullets rain against the silence of the city. _

_Her cries echo through the metallic graveyard, making the iron bones tremble and quake around me. _

_I hear their steps coming towards me and my lungs catch the air, stopping it in my throat. _

_I force myself to turn away from Angela and run. _

_They're coming. _

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><p><strong>AN: So I know I already have stories on the go, but this popped into my head and I **_**had **_**to get it down. **

**I'm not sure if I'm going to continue it, it really depends on what feedback I get. **

**As always, thanks for reading. And send me a little review. **

**Massive hugs.  
><strong>

**Also, I have a blog where I'll be posting previews for stories I'm writing, so if you want to check it out the URL is:  
>www(dot)escapingtown(dot)blogspot(dot)com<br>**

**the preview for my other story _Tomorrow's Gone _has been posted there :)  
><strong>


	2. Chapter 2 Preview

**A/N: Okay, so I suck big time. I swear that I am still writing this! It's just going slower then I had hoped. So as a little sorry, I am posting a little preview to the next chapter. I know it's not much, but It's all I could give right now.  
>So very sorry.<br>**

**also, please note that this is not the final copy, and things may be change in the finished product.**

* * *

><p>"<em>See that star, baby?" she lifts her hand, boney fingers pointing towards the sky. The thousands of stars winking back at her against their black velvet backdrop.<em>

_I shake my head, twisting my fingers in my lap. "There are billions of stars, Mom" I sigh and lean back against the rock, my legs swinging out over the edge._

_Mom shakes out her hair, the fired red flowing down her boney shoulders. She chuckles before letting her hand drop back into her lap "No, Hun" she shakes her head "that one, the bright one" she jerks her head towards the stars again. _

_I press the heels of my palms into my eyes before looking back up. "They're all bright" I whine. _

"_No, honey, they aren't." She reaches over and takes my hand, grasping it tightly between both of hers. "The one beside that cluster of stars on the horizon" she rubs her hands over mine, staring out in the night. "Do you see it?"_

_I follow her line of sight out and away from the Dark City. "Just above the tallest peak" she whispers._

_My eyes trace each edge, falling with the rock until I reach the middle. "You see it" she smiles to herself. _

"_Yes" I whisper watching as the little star twinkles above the white-d tip. _

"_Tell me about it" she says, her eyes flicking back and forth. "Please, baby." _

"_It's bright" I snort, shaking my head. _

"_Yes, it was" she smiles towards the sky. _

"_And...it's flickering" I say, frowning as it dims and brightens. "Did stars do that before, Mom?" _

_She shakes her head "No, Hun" she chuckles "Stars didn't flicker. They don't flicker." _

"_Mom?" I look back at her. _

"_Yes, baby?" she turns towards my voice, her eyes unfocused. _

"_Is it?" _

"_Is it what?" she smiles. _

"_Is it a star?" _

_Her white eyes stare ahead of her, just over my shoulder. "No, baby" she says, letting go of my hand and bringing hers to my face, tracing the lines of my cheeks. "It isn't a star." _

"_Then why would you—"_

"_Because things aren't always what they seem, Bella" her fingers trace my forehead. "Sometimes we only see what is in front of us, what is put there for us to see. Illusions are what keep us alive, honey, what protect us from what is truly there." Her finger tips trace to the tip of my nose. "You have to be careful in life, baby. Sometimes the things you thought you knew" she sighs "aren't always what you believed them to be."_

"_Okay "I sigh, dragging out the word. "That's enough fresh air for you tonight." _

_Her fingers trace my eyelids before dropping away. "You're more beautiful every time" she smiles blindly at nothing. "Just like your father."_

_I shake my head "My mother" I correct her. _

"_I don't remember the moon anymore, did you know that?" she asks. "Or the water, but I can still see your smile." she smiles to herself as she stares out in front of her. _

"_You're tired" I say, grabbing her hands "we should head back now." I push myself up off the sun-heated rock, pulling her with me. _

"_I think I'm going to stay here a while" she pulls her hands from mine. "Look at the stars."_

"_Mom, you can't—"_

"_Can't what, baby? See them?" she asks calmly, facing straight ahead._

"_Mom I didn't think—"_

"_Of course you didn't, sweetie." she smiles "why would you worry about me?" she cocks her head, never turning back to me as she whispers "I'm already dead."_

"_Mom" I shake my head. "Why would you say that?" I whisper. _

"_You know it's true, sweetheart. You were there. Remember?" _

_Pictures flicker across my vision. _

_Mom and I watching the stars above the city. _

_Mom pointing blindly star shapes in the sky._

_The crack of the gun. _

_The sickening sound as the bullet met flesh._

_The blood staining the rock around her._

_Her blind eyes looking out at the sky as the blood bloomed around the wound. _

"_No, no, that's not possible" I shake my head, pressing my back against the stone of the mountain. _

"_Now, Bella, don't tell me you don't believe in ghosts" she giggles into her hand. "You of all people should know I wouldn't go quietly." _

"_But you're here, I can touch you" I whisper, sliding down the rock, staring at my hands. "You're here."_

"_Bella" she snaps. "You have to listen to me." I look up from my hands. "You remember what I told you?" I nod my head slowly. "That nothing is what it seems?" I nod again. "Don't believe their illusions." _

"_Wait. What? Who's 'they'?"_

"_It's time for you to wake up now, baby" she says, leaning back against the rock. "They're going to want to move soon" she sighs. _

_I shake my head; "I don't want to leave you" I look out over the ledge, the tops of the trees swaying lightly in the breeze. _

"_I'm already dead, baby" she chuckles, like she can see what I was looking at "I can't die _again._" _

"_I don't want to leave" my throat tightens. "I miss you."_

"_I miss you too, sweetie, but it's time for me to go, and time for you to wake up."I shake my head. "Wake up, Bella."_

"_Wake up."_

"Wake up" snaps a voice above me, their hands shaking my shoulders and shattering the last fragments of my mother from my mind.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: yeahhh, that's it :( FOR NOW.**

**I'm so sorry yet again and I hope you guys can stick with me for a little longer. **

**Massive hugs to all you faithful and amazing people who reviewed and added my little story to their favourites and or alerts :)**

**thank you so much for the encouragement to continue and I hope I don't disappoint!**


	3. Let The Games Begin

**All mistakes are my own.**

**All characters belong to S. Meyer. **

* * *

><p><em>Let The Games Begin - Anarbor<em>

_It's a game, she's to blame  
>But who's keeping score?<br>You can tell by my grin  
>That I've done this before<br>So let the games begin_

"_See that star, baby?" she lifts her hand, boney fingers pointing towards the sky. The thousands of stars winking back at her against their black velvet backdrop._

_I shake my head, twisting my fingers in my lap. "There are billions of stars, Mom" I sigh and lean back against the rock, my legs swinging out over the edge._

_Mom shakes out her hair, the fired red flowing down her boney shoulders. She chuckles before letting her hand drop back into her lap "No, Hun" she shakes her head "that one, the bright one" she jerks her head towards the stars again. _

_I press the heels of my palms into my eyes before looking back up. "They're all bright" I whine. _

"_No, honey, they aren't." She reaches over and takes my hand, grasping it tightly between both of hers. "The one beside that cluster of stars on the horizon" she rubs her hands over mine, staring out in the night. "Do you see it?"_

_I follow her line of sight out and away from the Dark City. "Just above the tallest peak" she whispers._

_My eyes trace each edge, falling with the rock until I reach the middle. "You see it" she smiles to herself. _

"_Yes" I whisper watching as the little star twinkles above the white-d tip. _

"_Tell me about it" she says, her eyes flicking back and forth. "Please, baby." _

"_It's bright" I snort, shaking my head. _

"_Yes, it was" she smiles towards the sky. _

"_And...it's flickering" I say, frowning as it dims and brightens. "Did stars do that before, Mom?" _

_She shakes her head "No, Hun" she chuckles "Stars didn't flicker. They don't flicker." _

"_Mom?" I look back at her. _

"_Yes, baby?" she turns towards my voice, her eyes unfocused. _

"_Is it?" _

"_Is it what?" she smiles. _

"_Is it a star?" _

_Her white eyes stare ahead of her, just over my shoulder. "No, baby" she says, letting go of my hand and bringing hers to my face, tracing the lines of my cheeks. "It isn't a star." _

"_Then why would you—"_

"_Because things aren't always what they seem, Bella" her fingers trace my forehead. "Sometimes we only see what is in front of us, what is put there for us to see. Illusions are what keep us alive, honey, what protect us from what is truly there." Her finger tips trace to the tip of my nose. "You have to be careful in life, baby. Sometimes the things you thought you knew" she sighs "aren't always what you believed them to be."_

"_Okay "I sigh, dragging out the word. "That's enough fresh air for you tonight." _

_Her fingers trace my eyelids before dropping away. "You're more beautiful every time" she smiles blindly at nothing. "Just like your father."_

_I shake my head "My mother" I correct her. _

"_I don't remember the moon anymore, did you know that?" she asks. "Or the water, but I can still see your smile." she smiles to herself as she stares out in front of her. _

"_You're tired" I say, grabbing her hands "we should head back now." I push myself up off the sun-heated rock, pulling her with me. _

"_I think I'm going to stay here a while" she pulls her hands from mine. "Look at the stars."_

"_Mom, you can't—"_

"_Can't what, baby? See them?" she asks calmly, facing straight ahead._

"_Mom I didn't think—"_

"_Of course you didn't, sweetie." she smiles "why would you worry about me?" she cocks her head, never turning back to me as she whispers "I'm already dead."_

"_Mom" I shake my head. "Why would you say that?" I whisper. _

"_You know it's true, sweetheart. You were there. Remember?" _

_Pictures flicker across my vision. _

_Mom and I watching the stars above the city. _

_Mom pointing blindly star shapes in the sky._

_The crack of the gun. _

_The sickening sound as the bullet met flesh._

_The blood staining the rock around her._

_Her blind eyes looking out at the sky as the blood bloomed around the wound. _

"_No, no, that's not possible" I shake my head, pressing my back against the stone of the mountain. _

"_Now, Bella, don't tell me you don't believe in ghosts" she giggles into her hand. "You of all people should know I wouldn't go quietly." _

"_But you're here, I can touch you" I whisper, sliding down the rock, staring at my hands. "You're here."_

"_Bella" she snaps. "You have to listen to me." I look up from my hands. "You remember what I told you?" I nod my head slowly. "That nothing is what it seems?" I nod again. "Don't believe their illusions." _

"_Wait. What? Who's 'they'?"_

"_It's time for you to wake up now, baby" she says, leaning back against the rock. "They're going to want to move soon" she sighs. _

_I shake my head; "I don't want to leave you" I look out over the ledge, the tops of the trees swaying lightly in the breeze. _

"_I'm already dead, baby" she chuckles, like she can see what I was looking at "I can't die _again._" _

"_I don't want to leave" my throat tightens. "I miss you."_

"_I miss you too, sweetie, but it's time for me to go, and time for you to wake up."I shake my head. "Wake up, Bella."_

"_Wake up."_

"Wake up" snaps a voice above me, their hands shaking my shoulders, and shattering the last fragments of my mother from my mind. Pain flares along my spin, paralyzing my body as the flames engulf me. I moan and press my face against my shoulder.

I can feel the heat of the sun as it beats against my bare skin, licking up my pale flesh.

It's morning.

My eyelids bleed orange as the sun shines against the side of my face.

"Looky here, she survived the night!" shouts someone to my right.

"That is" I swallow against the lump in my throat "painfully obvious, don't you think?"

"Stand up" snaps Edward, his fingers curling around my shoulder and jerking me to my feet. I hiss as the metal cuffs dig into my wrists as he drags me up.

I grit my teeth against the pain that pushes against my lips, working my jaw back and forth, grinding my teeth.

"Get her ready" says Edward, shoving my shoulder away from his voice and walking away, his feet crunching on the dirt. "We leave in ten and blindfold her" his voice farther away "she doesn't need to see anymore."

"Righty-oh Captain" mutters Jake, his rancid breath washing over my face, and coating my skin.

His fingers work quickly on the first cuff, fumbling before clicking it off. He snaps his fingers and I feel someone grab my wrist and hold it over my head as Jake works on the other.

Jake's fingers dig into my shoulder, ghosting the tender flesh where Edward's hand had just been as he hauls be up onto my feet. My body feels heavy like I swallowed stones, weighing down my limbs stone by stone.

Someone grabs my hands from behind me, twisting them into one of their hands while Jake stands in front of me. Something hot and scratchy presses against my eyes, the fabric rough against my pale skin as it he drapes it over my eyes.

Jake leans over my shoulder, coating my body in the smell of spoiled meat and moulding hay as he tries to try the fabric behind my head.

I wince as the knot collects strands of my hair, weaving them in with the fabric and ripping them from my skull as he pulls it tight.

"Tie her wrists" he says to the boy behind me before stepping away from me. I blink behind the fabric finding it doesn't block out all the light, only dims it down. My eyes water with the light and I close them again.

Cord is wrapped around my wrists, the frayed rope rubbing the scabbed areas again and pulling at the healing skin. They pull it tight, causing me to yelp as it bites into my skin.

"Would you two, hurry the fuck up?" yells Edward "we have a lot of ground to cover if we're going to make it there by dark."

They knot the rope and step away before I hear their footsteps as they walk away from me.

"Move" someone says behind me, their hand pushing between my shoulder blades and making me stumble forwards.

"Keep up" shouts Edward from somewhere ahead of me. "Fall behind, and you get left behind."

"Cheery" I mumble.

"Just keep up" says the guy behind me.

"Aye, Aye Capy-tain" I turn my head to where his voice is coming from "lead the way."

_**xxx**_

"_You aren't listening, are you?" he chuckles, fumbling with the moulding pages of the book, carefully closing the cover and smoothing his bone-like fingers over it, tracing the indented title. _

"_I'm sorry" I mumble, watching as he smiles at me, pulling at his musty jacket he wears when we meet "I've been distracted lately" I don't look him in the eyes._

"_That's an understatement" he snorts and sets the book on top of one of the many piles around him "you've got your head topside, my girl. Care to share your thoughts?"_

_I chew on my lip "I've been thinking of Mother" I confess and he frowns "how she died."_

"_Ah" he rubs his jaw, covering his mouth "and you've kept this from the council?"he leaves on the implied 'and me?'_

_I shrug "They don't ask."_

"_You make it sound like it's their fault" he observes, pushing up his glasses that managed to slide down his slender nose. _

"_Don't do that" I look at him, eyeing the hundreds of books that he surrounds himself with, his replacement for people. "Don't diagnose me, not about this."_

"_Isabella" he sighs, leaning forward and folding his hands together in front of him on his knees. "It's my job" he reminds me "I'm here to help you, with whatever is going on with you."_

"_You're also my grandfather" I spit at him "but that 'job' seems to have been put on hold for your more important one or have you forgotten that we're blood?"_

"_I am first and foremost you're family" he insists "and when it comes to your well being I am fully invested, no matter my profession" he leans back in his chair, crossing his legs. _

"_That's very beautiful" I wipe away a fake tear "and to think, if I hadn't seen the very generous lump of coin that the council gave you for taking my case, I might have actually believed you. But bravo on the acting, really Grandpa, if this gig doesn't work out, you should really consider the theatre."_

"_Are you quite finished?" he raises an eyebrow at me._

"_Are we?" _

"_Hardly, you haven't even begun to deal with your grief, and until you come to terms with her death, you can never move on" he pulls out the pad of paper from his breast pocket, licking his finger and thumbing through the pages._

"_Like you have?"I spit, clenching my teeth against my anger._

_He sighs "it's been six months Isabella."_

"_Time has nothing to do with it!" I exclaim "she was you're _daughter_, how can you just forget her like that?" _

"_You can't live your life if you hold onto those things that have already gone." _

"_I am living my life."I look down at my hands, picking at my filthy fingernails._

"_But are you happy?"_

"_No."_

"_And that doesn't strike you as odd?"_

"_Not here, it doesn't."_

"_What makes you say that?" he asks, his pencil scratching on the paper, noting my mental satiability. _

"_Don't you know, Grandpa?" I look up at him, cocking my head. "Things aren't always what they seem."_

"_Maybe once upon a time, Isabella, that was true, but not now, not here" he rubs at his temples, angry at my disobedience "Everything is as it seems."_

_I shake my head "People hide in the dark" I argue._

"_And we see in the dark" he counters._

"_Only what we want to see."I push myself to the edge of my seat, my hands clenching around the stone edge. _

"_And what do you see, Isabella?"_

_I tap my chin, looking up at the low rock ceiling before looking him square in the eyes "I see a pathetic excuse for a man, who is trying to tell me that I need to get over my mother's murder." I tilt my head a little and sigh "You're right Grandpa."_

_He's frowning, his forehead creased with annoyance "About what, my dear?"_

"_Everything is _exactly _as it seems."_

My brain is thrown from my thoughts as a hand meets the flesh of my cheek, sending my body reeling to the left. Pain blooms along my jaw, crawling along my skin like insects as my teeth clamp together at the blow. A shrills ringing vibrates through my skull.

My arms jerk back against my fall, my momentum pulling at my limbs as my feet trip from underneath me. Pain rips against my vocal cords as a scream claws at my throat, I inhale through my nose, shallow breaths escape my body as I pant, my legs going limp under my weight.

The person behind me pulls on my arms again, yanking as my tendons scream.

I yelp as I'm lifted back onto my feet, my knees shaking underneath me.

"I told you to keep up" sneers the voice behind me "now move" his knee collides with the small of my back sending me forwards, my feet stumbling underneath me as I try to catch myself.

The ropes bite into my wrists, tearing away what little was left of the scabs my body managed to heal over night.

A metallic tang slides along my tongue as I bite the inside my cheek against the pain. I swallow against the sandpaper that has become my throat, my tongue heavy against my teeth. My lips chapped as the wind presses against my hooded face.

My feet feel heavy as I move along the uneven pathway, like wadding through honey; I push my legs to take each step.

Hours sit on my shoulder, cramping them tightly together behind my back. I push my chest out slightly trying to crack the knot that has taken up a life in the middle of my spine.

I press my eyes together tightly before slowly cracking them open against the bag insides. No light shines through the woven strands, the outside barely illuminated around us.

The sounds of boots pounding fills my head, the rhythmic sounds synchronizing with my heart beat as we move.

I close my eyes again, trying to push the memories down that have started to crawl up again, their fingers pushing themselves into my brain, forcing me to relive the moments.

The days after her death.

I press my lips together as their voice echo through my thoughts, pulling my conscience away from the present pain and back to an older one.

"_Sit please" they say together, their voices running together like a mindless hum "we only wish to ask you questions" they pause, their fingers tapping against the wooden table they sit at "it'll help find who did this."_

_I push my legs to move away from the arching doorway and towards to high back chair that faces the council. _

_The one in the middle runs his fingers along the ridged paper, reading the bumps as I would read words. His blank eyes staring ahead of him. _

"_Isabella" he states "nineteen winters old, currently living in Complex G. Father unknown. Living relatives: one, Aro Volturi, Complex G's therapist and your grandfather" his fingers still "this is correct?" _

_My throat has tightened, making my words hoarse as I whisper "yes."_

_He leans back against his chair, folding his hands on top of his rounded stomach. _

_The woman on his left sits forward and picks up where he left off, her voice clipped as her fingers run along the papers in front of her, her white eyes completely blinded along with them all. "Tell us what happened, Isabella" her words softened, trying to mask the irritated edge in her voice. _

_I shake my head, the tears I had pushed away finally breaking the walls I had built. Things blur as I stare at them through the layer of water. "T-t-they killed h-her" my breath leaves my lungs to fast, my chest raising and falling as I pant over the words. "They shot her" I whisper as I blink, the tears slipping from my lids and tumbling down my cheeks. _

"_We are aware of that, yes" says the woman, her words growing harder._

_She's tired of this already. _

"_We need details" she waves her hand in my general direction._

"_What is this helping with?" I look at the six council members in front of me "she's gone, and so are they."_

"_We can catch them, Isabella" says a man at the end of the table, his bald head _

"_We can't even leave the City" I spit at them. _

"_You misunderstand" says the woman again, her voice bouncing off the stone walls._

_I turn to look at her, my eyebrows raised, even though they don't see it._

"_We do not need to leave to find out who did this."_

_I laugh without humour at the thought "who else could it have been?" I raise an eyebrow in question._

"_There are still the possibilities that it was another clan in a different City" she says but I shake my head. _

"_Day Walkers did this."_

"_Yes, that is a possibility but —" _

"_It was Day Walkers!" I yell, my fists clenching around the arms of the chair "what proof do you people need?"_

"_The proof that we have is not stable enough to raise against them" says a fat man that sits beside the woman, his shirt straining over his stomach. _

"_So, what then? You'll do nothing?"_

"_There is nothing we can do if you can't give us details" says the man in the middle. _

"_I told you everything I remember!" I shout "she was talking and then she wasn't!" _

"_You're blocking things out" says the front man._

"_You're damn right I am!" my arms tremble with the anger that burns within me "I watched her die, I don't ever want to remember that!" _

"_But you must if we are to —"_

_I scoff "You aren't going to do anything even if I told everything, you'll sit here and do nothing, just like you've been doing for the last six months, you're all cowards, so don't act like warriors."_

_Silence pushes down on me as I breathe deeply through my nose, trying to calm my racing heart._

"_You're grandfather writes in his notes that you've been seeing each other for four months, yes?" says the woman. _

"_What does this have to do with anything?"_

"_Just answer the question, Isabella."_

_I sigh, rubbing my face with my hands "yes, that's true."_

"_And during those months, you have had nothing whatsoever of what he calls in a 'break through', yes?"_

"_You're point?" _

"_He has written of your violent outbursts" I balk at her, my mouth hanging open._

"_Violent outbursts!" I shout, my legs readying to spring me forwards before two guards clamp muscled hands around my arms. _

"_And unstable mental behaviour" her fingers feel each bump of the words. _

"_This is ridiculous!" I cry as they lift me from my seat._

"_His recommendation: three months solitary lock down" says the woman before smiling at me, her yellowed teeth flashing "goodbye Isabella."_

_I scream as the guards drag me away from the table "you can't do this! He's lying!" I thrash against the guards grips. "He's lying!"_

_No one comes to my rescue as my words echo through the City._

"We're here!" shouts Edward and the rest of the boys whoop in excitement as I feel the ground slowly begin to decline as he move towards their city.

Fear clenches at my throat as my feet slide down the hill as we move forwards.

The ground becomes smoother as the hill slowly evens out underneath me. I hear someone knock, their fist thundering on wood before I hear the squeal of rusted hinges.

"Edward!" says a female voice, excited, the sound high pitched "welcome back" I can hear her smile.

"Thank you, Tan" his voice lifts slightly, happier "won't you open the door now?" he chuckles and she giggles.

"Of course" I hear the hinges squeak as she closes the peep hole and the massive groan as the gates open for us.

Air gusts up and smacks against my bare arms as the heavy wooden doors open wide.

The boy behind me pushes me again, forcing me to move through the gates into the city.

Their feet march as they move, like soldiers returning from war, cheers sound from all around me, laughter echoing against the stone walls, they scream with joy as they watch their children return from a weekend of hunting.

Bile rises in my throat as they congratulate the murder of my people. I yelp as things are pelt against my sun burnt flesh, stones raining against my skin as we move.

I duck my head towards my chest, huddling into myself as we move forwards.

The suns heat left the ground scorched, burning my feet through my shoes. Dust kicks up around us, whipping sand along my skin as we walk deeper into the city.

The sounds of life fill every crack here, people talking to one another, trading goods or sharing stories as they bustle through their lives.

I feel the ground smoothen out and my toes hit a step. I lift my legs carefully as we take the steps one by one.

Once the little bit of sun left leaves my skin I know we're inside a building.

The smell of clove is heavy in the air, the sickly sweet scent clinging to my lungs as I breathe through my nose along with the smoke that hangs above our heads, a thick layer of burnt wood and burning spices.

I notice our footsteps echo as we walk farther into the smoke before stopping. The boy behind me drops my hand as soon as we stop, like I've burned him and walks around me, untying the bag from my head and pulling it off, dropping it to the floor.

I press my eyes together before opening them, squinting against the sunlight that has managed to follow us inside.

I watch most of the boys disappear through stone columns that stand parallel to each other on either side of us, massive stone trunks line to sides of the room, one placed beside each other.

Twisting vines craved deeply into the stone wind up from the floor like beautiful fingers they crawl along the stone, tiny flowers craved along with tiny unopened blossoms sprout from the stone plants, reaching towards the roof and away from us.

"Edward" echoes a voice against the arched ceiling of the building and I turn.

A man sits upon a stone throne, his legs twisted to the side as he lies sideways against the marble of the chair's arms.

The high arching back of the chair reaches towards the ceiling, hundreds of tiny pictures carved into the shinning stone behind him.

His blonde hair has been pulled away from his face and braided down his back in a think rope of gold, shinning in one of the beams of light that pour through one of the massive holes in the ceiling, deliberate areas to let light in. Deep crimson robes hang on his bulky frame as he brings a green fruit to his mouth. Juice slips from between his lips and I grimace as he doesn't even bother to clean himself.

"Father" says Edward his voice slightly tight as he watches his father gorge himself.

"I trust everything went as planned" he doesn't look away from his food.

"One survived" he says, his feet planted behind him, his hands clasped behind his back.

"A survivor?" he looks up from his food and towards his son and Edward nods before grabbing my arm and pulling me to stand beside him. "Interesting" he says before swinging his legs over, twisting his body to face us. He stands and walks down the steps to where we stand.

Edward says nothing as his father approaches us, his eyes staring ahead of him.

His father walks takes a step towards me, his head cocking to the side, he runs a finger down my cheek. I clench my jaw against the urge to bite him and stare ahead the same as Edward.

"She's not much, is she" he says, chuckling, walking around me.

"She's a fighter" says Edward stiffly.

His father scoffs "obviously, or she wouldn't be here" he comes to stand in front of me again, looking at his son.

"She'll do."

Edward's eyes widen "you can't be serious."

"When have I ever joked about this?" his father raises an eyebrow at him.

"She won't last a round" Edward argues.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see, won't we."

"Father" Edward says, his voice hard "She isn't worth it, just kill her."

My throat burns with the fear I haven't been able to shake since I was taken. It clutches at my wind pipe and tightens as I watch them argue over my life.

"It isn't your decision, it's mine, and I have already decided."

"With all due respect, I do not believe she is fit for this" he says.

"I suppose it's a good thing I didn't ask for your opinion" says his father, before looking back at me. "You speak?" I frown at him.

"Obviously" I mutter.

I see Edward shaking his head of out the corner of my eye and I frown at him, my hatred for him building as he fights for me to die right this moment.

"Ah, yes, she is perfect" says his father, giddy and Edward tenses further. "Take her to the compound, she'll need to be checked by the doctor, don't need her collapsing as soon as she enters" Edward's father chuckles slightly before turning away from us and back up to his throne.

Edward stands still, his jaw working, the muscles jumping "Now, Edward" his father commands and he turns on his heels, grabbing my arm and pulling me through the pillars where the other went.

We walk down a narrow corridor, lit with nothing but flickering candles all resting in massive candelabra along the walls.

Our steps echo as I try to keep up with Edward's long stride.

"Will you slow down?" I irate, trying to pull my arm from his grasp.

"Shut up" he says, never turning to look at me.

"Who pissed in your breakfast?" I quip.

Edward's jaw works, something I find he does a lot but he says nothing more.

"Nice talking with you" I mutter and focus on keeping my feet moving.

Edward turns me to the left and we walk down another hall towards a door at the end. He knocks twice and waits, his foot tapping on the stone floor.

A lock twists from behind the door, a heavy click as the door opens inwards.

Edward pulls me through and turns to shut the door, locking it behind him.

The room is brightly lit making my eyes water as I look around. Hundreds of candles line the walls, some lay imbedded in heaping piles of wax, dripping towards the stone floor.

Beds line the wall farthest away from us, simple wooden frames pushed up against the stone, the mattresses bare of any sort of comfort.

I twist in Edward's grip looking around the room. Buckets of water hang on pegs hang on a wall away from the bed; People stand side by side as they help to pour the water on each other. A small hole is drilled into the ground away from the bathers, the stones slopping slightly down towards it as the water rolls down through the hole and away from the feet of the people using the buckets.

The smell of body odor assaults my nostrils and I have to bite back the bile that rises in my throat. It hangs heavy in the air along with the smell of blood and dirt, mixing together to create a smell that chokes me on the inside.

There are no windows.

"Welcome to your new home" mutters Edward as he pulls me away from the door.

Edward looks at one of the four guards that line the wall near the door and says "check her." He pushes me towards a towering man and leans against the wall, waiting.

The big guy turns me around and runs his hands down my shoulders, patting at my body as he looks for weapons. He presses his fingers to my thigh and I hiss as his massive fingers probe at the arrow hole but he doesn't stop.

He stands up after he finishes with my feet and says "she's clean" he steps back against the wall again.

Edward comes up to my again and pulls me further into the room.

People turn to look at me and I stare wide back at them.

Hundreds of white-d eyes look back at me.

Darkie.

My breathing becomes shallow as I watch them watch me.

I stare at their hollow faces, their shrunken eyes and boney frames, clothed in nothing but a white tunic, most now brown from the filth of the room.

Edward pulls me through the only other door in the room and locks it behind him.

The room is small; with nothing but a bed and a tiny window so high from the ground I can't see anything but the darkening blue of the sky. Candles flicker in the room like the others, illuminating the small space in a small amount of light.

A man turns around from a small table and he smiles at Edward.

"Edward, ,my boy, you're back" he stands up, his back cracking and he twists his torso back and forth to release the tension.

"Carlisle" says Edward, his stone face cracking as he smiles at the older man.

Carlisle walks over and give Edward a one armed hug before pulling away and placing both hands on his shoulders "you didn't eat" he accuses him and Edward chuckles.

"We were busy" he says and Carlisle sighs.

"Ah yes" he looks at me and smiles slightly. "Hello, my dear" he moves towards me and I step back. Carlisle looks at Edward then back at me "I'm not going to hurt you, the very opposite actually" he laugh slightly, the skin around his eyes crinkling.

"Excuse me if I'm not so trusting" I snap, stepping away again.

"Of course, my dear" he steps back and turns back to his table.

"I'm not your dear" I mutter and look around the make shift hospital room.

Carlisle chuckles but doesn't turn around.

"This will be interesting" says Carlisle.

"I believe that is the point" says Edward and Carlisle turns around again.

"Ah yes, for entertainment" he says and frowns, matching Edward's scowl "have her sit please."

Edward moves towards me but I step back again "I can hear you know" I look at Carlisle "and if you think he's going to touch me, you're out of your fucking mind" I walk towards the bed and sit down.

Carlisle chuckles and Edward's frown deepens.

"Name?" he asks rummaging around his desk.

"Bella" I mutter.

"Hello, Bella" he says turning towards me "I'm Carlisle and I'm a doctor."

I roll my eyes "Whatever you say, buddy."

Carlisle pulls a small wooden stool and sits in front of me. He snaps on a pair of heavy gloves and probes at the now bleeding arrow wound on my thigh.

"Happen in the ruins?" and I nod.

"Arrow" I mumble.

"There isn't any infection yet" he takes a pair of scissors and cuts the fabric around the wound and gently pulls it away. I bite my lip against the pain and stare ahead. He lifts my leg and looks at the underside. "Through to the other side."

"I pulled it out" I hiss as he touches it again.

"You were lucky" he mutters.

"That's not what I'd call myself" I say and Carlisle shrugs and stands up.

"I'm going to clean the wound and wrap it" he walks over to the table grabs what he needs. "You'll need to take your pants off" he isn't looking at me.

I open my mouth and close it again "Um, no, I don't think so."

Carlisle eyes Edward standing near the door and he sighs and turns his back "better?"

I bite my lip and shake my head "I still don't want to" and he laughs.

"You'll have to eventually."

"Surprisingly, that isn't comforting" I mutter and stand up from the bed. "Um…" I look over my shoulder at my bound hands "little help?"

I hear Edward shuffle towards me and the whistle of a blade as he pulls it from his belt. He leans forward so his breath brushing against my ear. "Hold still" he says and sticks the tip underneath the tightened rope. I feel him press against it and the tension gives away as it slices through the cord.

Edward stands back and I hear him walk back to the wall.

I bring my hands in front of me and rub the raw skin of my wrists. The welts are angry and blistered, blood now dried around them tinting my skin a cherry colour.

I untie the cord that holds my pants up and let them fall to the ground. I kick them away and sit back down on the bed, folding my arms in front of my chest.

The arrow hole is ragged and bloody, the skin a sick looking colour contrasting against my skin.

Carlisle sits back down on the stool and grabs a bottle filled with clear liquid. He tips it into a cloth, soaking it through before placing against my leg.

I yelp and kick away from him. I feel someone grab my shoulders and hold me down. I look up at into Edward's eyes and I narrow mine at him.

"You must hold still" murmurs Carlisle as he daps at my leg again.

I grit my teeth against the pain as he cleans the entry and exit of my wound. Carlisle wraps a heavy white fabric around my leg twice before tying it off.

"Better?" asks Carlisle.

"No" I glare at Edward as he holds my shoulders.

Carlisle chuckles and waves him away.

"Are you sure?" asks Edward and Carlisle nods.

"I'll be fine." Edward's hands slip from my body as he walks away.

The rest of the exam goes on without a problem. He shines his candle in my eyes, watching my pupils dilate and block out the light. He murmurs his amazement and finishes, he's lucky I didn't blow the wax into his face.

Carlisle has me stripped fully. Removing the bindings on my chest and everything.

I'm weighted, examined, cleaned.

Carlisle hands me a white tunic and my chest bindings "get dressed, please" he says not looking up from his paper work.

I set to work on the tedious task of wrapping and dressing.

Once done I stand in front of both men and tap my foot.

Edward moves away from the wall and takes my arm again "is she cleared?' he asks.

Carlisle nods "A full bill of health" he looks up at us "although I don't know how long that will last."

Edward nods his head and takes me away from Carlisle

"Good luck Bella" he says and I turn to look at him.

"What?" I ask, turning to look at Edward then back at Carlisle.

Edward pulls me out of the room without glancing back at the doctor.

He takes me to a bed between two Darkie and pushes me down.

"You know, I'm getting really tired of you manhandling" I glare up at him.

Edward ignores me and turns to look at the hulking guard that frisked me "Watch her" he points to me. "she doesn't leave the compound for anything, we clear?"

"She's scheduled for tomorrow" says the guard, his face void of emotion.

Edward's jaw clenches again "she just got here."

"Your father scheduled it" he says.

I watch Edward breathe deeply through his nose before turning away from everyone and walking out of the room, slamming the door shut a little harder then necessary.

"Tough luck, fighting on the first day, bad luck, very bad luck" says a woman to my left, her body is sideways on the bed, her head and legs hanging off each side. Her blonde hair is matted in places, hanging limply around her shoulders and sweeping the dingy ground. Her white-d eyes are tinted a fairest blue, and narrowed as they flicker around the room then back to me. High cheek bones are hollowed slightly when she turns away from me and a crooked nose with the tiniest bump at the top where it has been obviously broken.

"You're off to the arena, oh yes, oh yes, off to the arena to die" she sings and giggles. "Isn't she Ali? Dead she'll be oh so soon!" she exclaims and laughs again, her face turning red as the blood rushes to her head.

"Ignore her" says the girl or Ali on the other side of me. Her hair is chopped off at all different lengths and teased so it all stands on end. Her eyes are closed as she leans against the wall, her legs bent at the knee point towards the stone roof. "she's fucking crazy."

"Such bad luck" mumbles crazy girl "you won't come back! They never come back now!" she yells and springs up right "they kill them!" she screeches and turns to watch the guards advance on her and then she's laughing "can't catch me!" she squeals and takes off running "gotta kill me, gotta kill me!" I watch her jump away from the hulking guard and spring away from another, effortlessly dodging them.

"That's Rose" says Ali beside me, her head is still ducked, her eyes closed. "Her brother didn't come back after his fight."

"I-I don't understand" I say, watching Rose run through the water as people pour it over each other, dodging the guards as they try to close in on her.

"He died" she frowns and opens her eyes "what's not to get? His fight was unfair, sneaky bastards gave his opponent weapons so naturally, he didn't stand a chance" she shrugs "but it is what it is, most of us get that" she looks over at Rose, now struggling to escape the massive arms of the hulking guard as they wrap around her waist "I guess she didn't."

I pull myself back onto the mattress until my back hits the wall, pulling my legs up to my chest.

"Where did he die?" I whisper watching Rose scream, tearing running down her face.

"In the arena" she says and looks at me "you really don't know, do you?" and I shake my head.

Her eyes widen slightly before she turns to face all the other Darkie. Ali sweeps her hands over the room and says "welcome to the compound" she drops her voice, making her sound like a man, her voice broad and overzealous "the holding area for all Darkie fighters. The young, the old, and sick go up against the physically fit in a fight to the death. Only one will survive and the other will die, broadcasted live to over two thousands viewers. Sit back and pray you don't get scheduled because when that buzzer goes off you're as good as dead" she says, her speech too memorized.

Sounds above me make me look up, the sound of hundreds of feet pounding on the ground. Screams seem to leak from above and then I hear it.

A buzzer goes off from somewhere far away and a roar of people scream, like a wave it crashes over us in a ear piercing shrill.

"Let the games begin" says Ali as she leans back against the wall, closing her eyes.

I turn to look at Rose, her head lulled to the side against the hulking mans arm as Carlisle removes a needle. Her eyes find me and she slurs "You're going to die" right before the drug takes hold of her and she slips into blissful sleep, ignorant to the fight above our heads.

I wish I could be so lucky.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hello to all of you! **

**I am overwhelmed by the responses I have gotten towards this little story of mine. I am so grateful to all of you that took the time to review and add this story to their favourites and alerts. You all are amazing. **

**So please, if you'd like for this story to continue, please continue to review, I need your support! **

**Massive hugs and happy readings. **


	4. Make Me Wanna Die

**All mistakes are my own.**

**Characters belong to S. Meyer**

_Make Me Wanna Die – The Pretty Reckless_

_I had everything, opportunities for eternity_

_And I could belong to the night_

_Your eyes, your eyes_

_I can see in your eyes_

_You make me wanna die, I'll never be good enough_

_You make me wanna die_

_And everything you love with burn in the light_

_Every time I look inside your eyes, you make me wanna die._

* * *

><p>The candles flicker through the compound distorting the faces of the people around me as they slowly die out. Pale skins morph as the shadows slide along their features, pulling their faces into permanent masks of terror, warping their mouths and twisting their eyes.<p>

They chew their lips raw until blood stains them crimson, their fingers cramping as they clutch their beds, praying it won't be their turn to fight.

Their turn to die.

I press my lips together and tighten my fists against my sides, pushing away their panic, the sickly sweet smell of their terror as it tries to choke me.

Fear is real here, a substance I can taste on my tongue with every tainted breath I breathe. It's thick, slithering through my veins as it tries to grip my heart and force it to beat it's painful song.

I push against the sickness that consumes the people around me, watching as it sends them slowly into a blissful sanity, taking away the pain and lulling them into a crazed stupor.

It's a pleasure my body yearns for but one I can't give it.

I press my boned back against the small wooden bars that play the part of my headboard as I watch him drag the stone over his wrists.

Pale skin turned a ghostly white as he presses the dull edge into his flesh. Silent sobs shake his frame causing his spin to become more defined against his ashen skin. He rests his head against the stone wall, his shoulders rising and falling, his breath huffing from his weakened body.

I watch him grit his teeth as he re-grips his stone, his fingers curling around the end of it, clutching it like a dulled knife with the tip pointed towards veins in his arm. His wrist lies across his knees, his fist relaxed and hanging slightly towards to the floor.

He presses the end of the rock against is damaged flesh again, breathing in; he holds his breath as he forces the blunt edge against his skin.

He twists the stone, grinding it down and into his arm.

His shoulders are vibrating now as he digs his way through the sensitive skin. I watch the blood begin to well around the tip of the stone as he presses harder.

His breath seems to echo against the stone of the compound altering every single person of his attempts but no one stops him.

I turn to look at Ali but she isn't watching. Her head is bowed towards her knees, pulled close to her chest; she hums a gentle song, one I've never heard before. Her fingers tap against her leg with the notes, and rhythmic _tap, tap, tap. _

I hear the man whimper, the sound ringing against the walls as the rock slips from his stained hands. I turn to watch as it clatters to the floor, skidding away from him and trailing a faint stream of blood in its wake.

My fingers shake as I watch the body of the man, nothing more than bones and a dying heart beat slump to the side and smile as he watches his blood stain the uncovered mattress.

His fingers twitch as I watch the drops of crimson slowly slide down the sides of his digits, staining his colourless skin. His white-d eyes glint as tears form along his lids and drop along his crooked nose.

The guards seem to have woken from their stupor and scramble towards the man. Their shouts for Carlisle wake those few who had managed to sleep and they begin to scream along with the sentries.

The doctor's door swings open, the wood banging against the wall as he stumbles from his tiny office. His shirt is twisted and backwards, his pants barely hanging on his hips as he clutches them to his body.

Carlisle pushes past the guards that hover over the body and kneels down beside the dead Darkie. He presses two fingers against the corpse's throat, sliding them along his jaw, his own working against his teeth. "Michael" he whispers to the man.

"I don't know why they even bother" comes the iron laced voice beside me "he's already dead."

I cringe at her words even though I know they're true.

Carlisle sighs and drops his hand, his head shaking.

"Dead" he mumbles and pushes up from the floor, his knees coming away crimson.

"They always are" says Ali.

Carlisle turns to the hulking man, his finger pointing to his chest "I told you to watch him" he hisses, his face pinched in anger.

The tall guard shrugs and grabs Carlisle shoulder, leading him away from the corpse "he was fast, and you know it" he eyes the doctor "that's why he was in such high demand."

"Fast had nothing to do with that" Carlisle looks over his shoulder at the other guards as they grab the dead man by his hands and feet. Dragging him off the bed, they drop his lifeless body to the floor, and rub their hands along their pants in disgust. "That stone was dull, it would have taken him a long time to do that much damage. He practically tore out his wrist!" Carlisle exclaims as he turns back to the guard.

The guards brow furrows as he looks at the doctor "Are you insinuating something, Doc?" he stops in front of him, his bulky arms crossing over his chest, blocking the way back to his Carlisle's office.

"He was to be watched at all time" Carlisle points towards to corpse "he was unstable, suicidal, and you all were informed of this, you should have been watching him, he shouldn't have had time to do that. And for another matter how the hell did he get that stone? How did you miss _that _in shake down?"

"What do you want me to tell you? We must have missed it" he shrugs.

"I highly doubt that" scoffs the doctor and makes to move around the man. "Someone _would _have found it."

"Those are dangerous accusations there Doc" says the guard, his head turned slightly to talk into Carlisle's ear "You wouldn't want someone to get the wrong idea about you, now would they Doc?"

"Your threats are wasted Emmett" Carlisle says "Death would be nothing more than release" he turns to look at Emmett and sighs "and besides you know just as well as I do, I haven't been alive in years" and he walks back to his room, closing the door tightly behind him, the lock falling into place.

Emmett turns away from the door and shouts at the other guards "get him out of here."

They grab Michael's hand, avoiding the one he dug into and start pulling him away, his head crushing against the stone as they tug at his broken body, slowly making their way towards the door, the body painting the stone in red.

I turn my head towards Ali, watching her stiff back rock against the head of the bed; her head clutched between her tiny hands, her lips are pursed as she softly hums to herself.

I swallow past the lump that has lodged it's self in my throat as I watch the guards turn the keys in the locks, clicking the heavy wood paneled door open and dragging the dead Darkie out.

"Don't feel bad for him" mumbles Al from my side.

"Why?" I ask, never taking my eyes off the broken body.

"He escaped; you're still very much here."

xxx

"Ro is right, you know" says Ali, I don't turn towards her voice.

"I know" I say, my eyes locked on my bare feet.

"You _will_ probably die up there" she muses.

"Probably" I wiggle my toes against the bare mattress.

"If it makes you feel any better, it's probably better to die out there then live in here."

"It doesn't" I deadpan and turn to look at her "but thanks for the pep talk."

She shrugs and picks at her nails "Crushing the dreams of newbie's is what I live for."

"You need a new hobby."

"Perhaps" she nods and begins to hum again.

I turn to watch the guards that stand by the door. Hulking bodies filled with the strength from years of eating well stand between myself and the door. Hard faces run along the dying with no emotion, their hands behind their backs, feet shoulder width apart; they say nothing to one another. Like stone statues, they don't move, with only the slight rising of their chests to prove they're breathing.

"Then again" I turn back to her voice "why stop something I'm so good at?"

I shake my head "Stick with what you know."

"Exactly" she nods and begins to hum again.

"This isn't helping me, you know."

"Well, what do you want me to say? You'll be alright?" she shrugs "why bother lying?"

"Your reassurance is astounding" I mutter.

"Glad I can help" she says, turning towards me with a snide smile.

"Oh yeah, you made everything all that much better" I glare at her.

She snorts before turning towards me, folding her legs in front of her. "Alright, you really want my help?"

"No, no just keeping telling me how I'm going to die, that's _really _helping"

"Funny" she rolls her eyes at me. "Alright first things first, you gotta know they almost always give your opponent a weapon, something slow but will definitely do the trick. Think knives, that's usually what it is. Something small enough that they can hide it, but big enough to do serious damage in a short amount of time" she lifts her arms, twisting it to show the inside of her forearm. A large raised scar runs from the crook of her elbow to the beginning of her palm. The healed skin is twisted; an angry wound coloured fired red that shines against her dull pale skin.

"Next watch out for the dirty fighters, those are usually the ones who strike before the buzzer has even gone. Gets the crowd going and usually a heavy hit into you" she pulls her knees under her and lifts the bottom of the tunic to show her once smooth stomach, now covered in angry twists of healed skin.

"Always remember the crowd is going to hate you, don't waste your time and energy trying to change that because you'll end up dead. They don't care how nice you are, or how good a person you are, you're Darkie, and to them you're the entertainment with dinner. Got that?" she raises an eyebrow at me as she smoothes her tunic out and I nod.

"Don't show off, don't even think about showing off because if you don't die this time around, future challengers are going to be watching you, they'll know what to expect next time and you won't have that advantage. Again, it all comes down to don't try and get the crowd to like you, if you can, end the fight quick, don't draw it out, get in and get out." Ali pauses and looks around, lowering her voice until I have to lean over the gap between our beds to hear her, she whispers: "And most importantly if the opportunity presents it's self, take their weapon. There ain't any deducted points for playing dirty. You play it safe, you die."

Ali stops and looks at me, her white-d eyes searching my face for something. She shakes her head and looks down at her hands. Whatever she was looking for, she didn't find it.

"I don't even know why I'm bothering to tell you," she shakes her head again "planting false hope."

I open my mouth to object but she interrupts me "I can see it; you have that same look that they all get. They all think they can win, just survive until you can get the upper hand. They get cocky and then they get dead." Ali turns away from me and pushes herself back to the head of the bed. "Just forget it, don't put up a fight and maybe if you're lucky it'll be quick."

I open my mouth to contradict her but she shakes her head quickly and turns to face away from me. I frown at the side of her face, pulling my legs to my stomach. Ali's face contorts as she bits her lip as her eyes follow the approaching guard.

"Good morning, Alice" he smiles, his lips pulling over his strangely white teeth. His blond hair is matted from the sweat and dirt from lack of bathing, his bearded face covered in a thin film of filth. A burn scar runs along the side of his face, twisting his smile, and pulling the skin of his eye, making it look like he's collapsing into himself, the shinny skin a ugly red under the candle light.

Ali's face contorts as she eyes the guard, her anger tinting her pale skin a light pink. "Is it?" her voice is tight with rage, her fists clenching at her sides.

"Now, now, smile, my sweet, don't want wrinkles" he chuckles slightly and taps her forehead.

I watch Alice as her hands twist the fabric beside her legs, her jaw jumping as her rage begins to consume her.

"I do hope you're behaving yourself, not scaring the new girl, are you?" he asks and turns to look at me

Ali's voice is tight, her teeth grinding "would I do that?"

The guard runs his finger down her cheek and along her jaw as he leans in, his lips grazing her ear "I think so" he whispers.

Alice goes ridged before her fist blurs upwards connecting with the guards burned cheek. His hand rips away from hers to clutch his split skin a growl ripping from his throat.

"Why you little—"

"Jasper" snaps Emmett from across the compound.

Jasper's head snaps around to look at him, his hand dropping from his cheek and clenching at his sides.

"Quit fucking around" Emmett barks "and get her to prep" he nods towards me before turning away again.

Jasper's jaw works, the muscles jumping as he turns away from Alice "we aren't finished" he hisses.

"Can't wait" Alice sneers as she pulls herself up to the headboard of her bed, his fist cradling in her lap.

"You" he snaps at me, his hand curling around my upper arm "get the fuck up."

I yank my arm away from him, my elbow flying up and clipping him in the stomach.

Jasper grunts and grabs at me again. His fingers digging into my skin.

"If you weren't going to die, I'd make you pay for that" he hisses in my ear as he jerks me forward. My knees skid against the ground and I can't swallow the whimper the fills my throat. Jasper slips his hands under my arms and pulls me to my feet.

My body feel heavy under me as he pulls me away from Alice. I stumble and he wrenches on my arm. I turn my head to look back but her head is bowed, her eyes following the pattern of her shirt.

"Move" he thrusts me forward, his fingers grinding my bones together.

I swallow past the bile that rises in my throat and turn away from my thought-to-be friend.

Eyes follow my movements as I'm dragged from the compound.

They know where I'm going.

And they know I'm not coming back.

_**xxx**_

The corridors seem to blur together as we move through the maze. Heavy wooden doors dot each side of the hall in a random pattern, their thick metal knockers coated in various levels of dust like no one has ever touched them.

Jasper pulls me behind him as we pass hundreds of rooms, my feet stumbling as I try and make my limbs move like his. We pass a man and a woman dressed in ragged pants and vests, their backs arched as they stare at the ground, faces hidden behind their tangled hair, they stare at their dirt caked feet. We move past them quickly, Jasper ignoring them and taking a sharp left down another hall to stop in front of a door stained crimson.

He reaches out and wraps his knuckles against the wood.

Peals of laughter echo just beyond the wood and I jump as the sound smacks into my ears. Murmurs of voices, muffled into nothing but different octaves of sound rustle just past my sight flit from underneath the door.

"Yes?" asks a sweet little voice.

A tiny woman stands with her hands clutching a tunic around his body. Her hair, a tumbling mess of tangles hang around his small face, framing her smile and dimpled cheeks in a blonde halo, the candle light casting shadows along her straight nose and arched brows.

"She's been summoned" says Jasper.

"Oh yes" she turns, leaving the door open "Just give me a moment!" she calls over her shoulder.

The room is dimly light, the light from a single candle burning down in the centre of a wooden table, casting everything in heavy inked shadows.

The darkness dilutes the colours that fill the room. Deep reds and purples run along the walls in elaborate patterns, colouring the cold stone walls in painted happiness. Woven faces stare back at me as I run my eyes along the frames of strangers, their regal head held high for the seamstress who captured their features in thread. Heavy drapes dotting the walls run from the stone ceiling to the floor. The colours vibrant and happy, arching from the corners, four gossamer lengthens of fabric met in the middle of the room.

A single sleeping pallet lies in the middle of the space, the pillows pilled around a man's head; he snores softly and pulls at one of the many multi coloured stitched covers that lay twisted around his narrow hips.

The woman pulls a belt around his crimson tunic, pulling the leather tightly she fastens it around her hips before pulling her tangled hair on top of her head. She nods at her reflection in the tiny blade before tucking it into the sheath at her side and moving back towards us. She forgoes shoes.

Pulling the door shut she looks at Jasper and nods "Alright, I'm ready."

They move at the same time, and I'm being dragged down the maze of halls once again.

We turn so many times that I begin to think we've gone in literal circles until we stop at a set of double doors.

The woman reaches into her pocket and pulls out a key, leaning forward she thrusts it into the lock and twists it open. She pushes them aside and strides inside.

Replacing the key, she grabs a small box and a thin stick of wood. Striking it against the edge of the box, sparks fly as they catch.

She cups her hand around the tiny flame as she walks around from candle to candle, illuminating the room one corner at a time. I resist the urge to clench my eyes against the light that begins to spill throughout the room.

Hundreds of tables stand side by side, their tops covered in thick lengthens of leathers and metal.

There are no windows.

The walls are bare and cold.

The stone floor is stained. Painted with the blood of the wounded and dead.

I stand at the door until Jasper pulls me through and up to the side wall where a long wooden bench sits pressed against the wall. Metal cuff links hang down in pairs of two.

A man sits at the far end, his eyes closed and his head hung. His arms are chained at his sides as are his feet.

Jasper sits me at the other end, pushing me down; he grabs the cuffs and snaps them around both of my wrists and my feet.

My head screams to fight back but my hand drop limply at my sides, the chains clanking echoing emptily in the empty room.

"That really isn't necessary" says the woman as she moves throughout the room.

"Protocol" he says and walks away from me to the man at the other end.

"Rise and shine. Time to go back, Erik" he says as he pats the man's cheek.

Erik doesn't even open his eyes.

Jasper reaches around and un-cuffs his hands and feet before pulling him up. I hear his joints crack as he's forced to move.

"Happy hunting, Princess" he calls to me as me moves Erik out the door.

His laugh echoes through the halls as the door slams shut behind him.

Silence seems to clench around me. The soundlessness twists it's fingers around my throat as I try and swallow past the the fear I have come to live with. It caresses my empty stomach and my weakening limbs, making my head heavy on my shoulders.

I hear the woman tsk someone off in my foggy brain. Her steps ring through my ears until she's kneeling in front of me, her eyes looking into mine as she holds a cup to my cracked lips.

I press my mouth together and jerk away from her.

"Drink" she soothes and holds the metal goblet towards me again "it'll make you feel better."

"Like I'd believe anything you people say" I spit over my drying tongue.

The woman sighs "I don't want to force you Bella" she says and I press my back against the stone wall, wishing it would consume me "so please, just drink it."

I shake my head and turn away from her.

She sighs again "I really didn't want to do this."

The woman reaches forward and grabs my nose, pinching it closed and forcing the cup against my lips. I screech, my lips parting, she tips the cups, making the liquid pour into my mouth. I cough, choking on the contents but she doesn't stop until the glass is empty.

She leans back on her heels and watches as I cough, my throat burning as my body tries to force the liquid from my lungs.

"There," she smiles, standing up, setting the cup on the floor near my chained feet "that wasn't so hard now was it? Admittedly, it could have been easier."

I wheeze my chest rising as I try to draw air into my drenched lungs "Fuck you" my voice rasps, like I've swallowed sandpaper.

The woman frowns "That's awfully rude to say to someone who just saved you from dying of starvation."

"And you think that because you saved my life, the fact that you are helping to end it means nothing now?" I cough again.

"I am doing as the King commands" she says as if that answers everything.

"I will be something to help to ease your guilt" I spit at her. "You're all murderers."

"It is not my sword that ends lives."

"You sit on the side lines and watch people die. You are no better than the ones who draw the blood. Actually, you may be worse."

"These are my orders. I do as I am commanded" she looks down at me, her eyes losing that light I saw before "I have no choice."

"You're preaching to the damned. You want to be forgiven, go see a fucking priest."

I watch the woman swallows roughly as she presses her lips together, her tears fill the bottom of her lids and I feel nothing.

At least by this time tomorrow she'd still be breathing.

She can get the fuck over it.

**_xxx_**

Sleep doesn't come.

I try and calm my brain but it's running away from me.

My stomach muscles cramp as my arms and legs begin to numb from sitting for so long.

The woman left hours ago; blowing out each candle as she went before carefully closing the door behind her.

I count the seconds as they pass, counting down the time till my execution.

A torture all its own, but I don't stop.

It's only when the doors are opened again and five women walk through their happy clucking filtering through the room like hens do I pause my countdown.

They're all dressed the same.

All red tunics, and smiling faces.

They don't acknowledge me.

"Good morning ladies" says a plump little bird as she flies through the door after the others.

They all squawk their replies back before moving to light the candles.

I hang my head again and restart my counting as they brighten the room.

"Only one today" says a squeaky voice of a young hatchling.

They all murmur before the bustling begins again.

I hear the doors open again and everyone stops to greet the newcomer. I raise my head and find it's only the woman from last night.

"Oh, Esme, I heard you were woken up to take care of it, you poor dear" says the plump hen.

Esme fluffs her hand in the air "just part of the job."

"I don't know how you do it" says the large one "you are inspiration to us all" she adores her.

I gag.

She walks around them towards me "Bella" she greets.

I grunt and drop my head again.

"Animal" whispers that fat lady and I look up at her, narrowing my eyes.

"Now, now, Jess, now is not the time, preparations are in order." Esme claps her hands and they all set off to work.

"Sleep well, did you?" I ask her.

She looks down at me "I slept fine" her voice is stiff.

"Must have been nice" I muse.

"It won't work this time" she informs me.

"Seems it already has."

"Call for a guard" calls Esme "we'll need the help today."

Someone runs from the room, slamming the door as they go.

"Ending our chat so early this morning?"

Esme turns away from me without answering and begins to prepare a table.

Minutes later the chicken reappears Jake in tow and runs to Esme, they both look over their shoulder at me and Esme nods.

The girl grabs Jake's hand and they walk over to me.

"Well, aren't you the beauty of the ball" he eyes me and I sneer "not much of a personality this one" he says to the girl and she giggles.

"Go to hell" I snap and pull at my chains.

The girl beside him goes ridge, her tiny claws digging into his arm.

"Now, now Bella how is that any way to treat your superior?"

"When I see one, I'll let you know."

Jake shakes his head and pulls the key to my cuffs from his pocket. "You might want to stand away Leah" he says over his shoulder to the girl. She nods and back away.

I roll my eyes "I'm not going to fucking bite you."

Jake grabs my arms, holding my wrists in one hand as he undoes my legs and hauls me to my feet. My bones creak as I move and I stumble as the blood rushes back to my feet.

"Where do you want her?" he asks and Esme looks up from her work.

"Here" she says and I'm walked up to her.

Esme reaches over the table and grabs the knife that lies there before turning back to me and cutting the belt that holds my pants up.

"No loose clothing in the arena" she says and grabs at my tunic, her knife sliding up and slicing through the thin fabric.

"Hey—"

She shakes my arms until the sleeves fall to my wrists causing to Jake releases them to let the clothing the floor with my pants.

Then I'm standing there in nothing but my bindings.

"Do I get to keep these?" I sneer at her, but she ignores me.

She sets the knife on the table and grabs at something leather. She holds it up to me and nods before kneeling on the ground and lifting my legs one at a time.

For a second I think of kneeing her in the nose but with Jake holding me, it would do me no good.

I stand still as she slides the short pants up my legs and ties them at my waist. I look down at my bare calves and thighs and frown.

Next she grabs at a leather corset looking thing and wraps it around my torso, pulling the ties tightly behind my back, lacing it up my body. I look down at the fabric that covers my chest and stomach and cringe when I see the crimson stains.

Heavy metal plated sleeves envelop each of my arms, the tops hooking onto the corset and around my middle finger. I clench my fists and they move with me smoothly.

A tick piece of leather is wrapped around my throat along with one wrap around each of my thighs just under where the pants I wear end.

Lastly she laces my feet in bindings, each strip of fabric wrapping my toes and up my legs ending at my knees.

Esme stands away from, her teething gnawing on her lip. She reaches forward and adjusts my shoes before nodding and walking around me. She wraps her hand in my hair and I stiffen.

"Can't have anything to pull on" she says and runs her fingers through the tangles. Her hands work through the knots before braiding the length of it down my back, tying it off and wrapping it around my head.

"She's ready" she says to Jake and his hands tighten around my wrists.

"Good luck Bella" she says and I look at her.

"Don't act like you care" I spit as Jake pulls me away from her.

She doesn't look me in the eyes as I'm pulled through the arched doorway on the other side of the room.

We walk the corridor in silence.

There is no need for words.

Hundreds of people are speaking for us.

The audience roars as we move closer, their cries for blood increasing in volume as we make our way towards the morning light.

We near the end of the tunnel and I see the bars that block the mouth of the tunnel and my heart beat makes my breathing shake.

No escape.

Screams thunder.

I look over my shoulder at Jake but like Esme he doesn't look me in the eyes. He's looking anywhere but me.

I wrench my arms from his hands. Ignoring his commands, I walk to the bars and wrap my fingers around the metal.

I feel my legs shake as the crowd stomps at their seats.

They want the show to start.

The sound of bars creaking makes me look behind to watch as metal rods slide out from the wall to encase me in a cage.

I feel the bars under my hands begin to quake as they raise them.

I breathe in through my nose and out my mouth.

I will not be afraid.

I will not die a coward.

I will not give them the satisfaction of my fear.

It's all I control now.

It's not enough to take the terror of dying away.

But it's all I have.

I straighten my shoulder, and clench my fists.

I am Darkie, and I will not be afraid of the light.

Closing my eyes, I step into the arena.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Howdy to all my loyals, and to all those who are new. **

**I know it's been forever, but we'll let that slide, won't we? ;) **

**I would like take a moment to say a big thank to all who reviewed, alerted and favourite this story of mine, you make writing it worth it. **

**And as usual, I am reminding you, that if you like this story let me know! Its continuation is based on you guys. **

**Much love and massive hugs. **


	5. I Will Not Bow

**All mistakes are my own.**

**Characters belong to S. Meyer**

**Massive thank you to all who have stayed with me and took the time to review, favourite and alert this story.**

_I Will Not Bow – Breaking Benjamin_

_I will not bow. I will not break. _

_I will shut the world away._

_I will not fall. I will not fade._

_I will take your breath away._

_And I'll survive. _

* * *

><p>It happens to fast for me to react.<p>

The pain is blinding. Crippling.

The force collapses my lungs, my breath whooshing from between my teeth as my legs stagger back towards the gaping mouth of the arena.

Gasping, I clutch my shoulder, my fingers wrapping around the arrow that juts from the flesh just under my collar bone. Blood warms my fingers, the crimson liquid wrapping around my digits and staining the pale skin around my nails.

The crowd is deafening. Their screams echoing as they catch the first sight of my blood, their hunger stirred as they watch from up above us.

I grit my teeth as the pain rips through my skin, snaking along my entire body, capturing my flesh in fiery fingers. Tears fill my eyes as I look down my skin at the wooden dowel protruding from my skin. I tighten my fingers around the arrow, the brittle wood snapping under the pressure.

My fingers weaken and it falls to the ground, the feathered end bouncing against the broken stone.

Roars thunder through my head as I clench my eyes shut against the dizziness that drips through my mind.

I hear the announcer scream at his podium, his voice so high pitched it rings along the stadium, puncturing my ear drums. I turn my head up, my eyes watering at the early morning light and watch the tiny bulging man jump up and down, his round face staining pink as he huffs and puffs, his finger pointing down towards me.

His eyes a squinted like a gleeful child and he lets a little giggle slip from between his overstuffed lips "First blood" he screams, his tightly curled hair shaking loose around his fat cheeks "First blood! The games have begun!"

Somewhere a buzzer thunders through the arena and I heart jumps at the sound.

My stomach rolls and drops away from me. My body locking, I try and shake my head against the fog that begins to form around the corner of my eyes. Dots dance in my vision and I grind my jaw, working away the unsteadiness that curls around my fingertips.

My head thumps as my assailant roars, his scream thundering through my ears and shaking my body. I can hear his breath as it whooshes from his nostrils, his lips parted around the heavy morning air, he screams out, his face purpling with an emotion I have never felt.

I watch him watch the blood leak from the puncture in my skin, his eyes dilating as the blood stains my skin, the black of his pupil filling the watered blue of his iris.

His lips pull back over yellowed teeth as he snarls, spittle flying from his mouth and glinting in the fast rising sun.

Dressed similar to me, leather wraps around his body like skin over boulders. Bulging shoulder connect to large pipe like arms, covered in ropey veins. His one hand clutches a rough looking bow, the quiver tightly strapped across his heaving chest.

Blood fills his cheeks and I can see the white of a scar that runs from the tip of his eyebrow and up along his shaved scalp. He twists the ball of his foot against the broken concrete ground and his fingers tap against the long curved wood of the bow.

I push away the nausea that fills my emptying stomach and I force my eyes to move away from the man in front of me.

Rusted skeletons of twisted metal are arranged in straight lines, one after another, packed so close the air whistles as it rushed between them. Glass covers the stone, like thousands of diamonds they sparkle in between the dirt, some shimmering like rubies. Grass has through the cracks in the stone and now sways, dancing in the morning wind, blowing the sickly sweet stench of golden summer flowers through the arena.

Walls tower over us, a circle of stone caging us in with the spectators seated in theatre rows above us. Their eyes wide with anticipation, they sit on the edge of those stone seats and wait for my death.

The bow creaks as he pulls back on it, the aged wood protesting as he maneuvers it. I hear the whisper as the feathered end leaves his fingers and I drop. My knees smack against the tarmac and I yelp as the stone find purchase in my skin.

I roll to the side as he rushes towards me, his screams of anger causing my heart to jump into my throat. Adrenaline rushes through my veins and I begin to shake.

My arms feel too heavy, out of control. I try to slide my palms under my body to propel myself up and away from his snarling swing but I'm to unsteady. My limbs move wrong as I bend my knees and slide my feet under my body, to slow, like I'm moving through tree sap.

My legs shake as I attempt to run, my feet numb beneath me, my steps shaky under me and I can feel him gain.

Like a dream my legs move like weights are tied to them. Heavy and disconnected I stumble over twisted metal that mingles with ragged boulders.

The sun is higher now, and I can feel it as it laces burning fingers through the arena, stretching towards my skin as I move farther away from the mouth of the stadium and deeper into a sea of metal bones.

Rays of fire bounce of the bleached stones around us and my eyes water, tears pooling in my lids as I twist my head from side to side, looking for cover, anything to stop the pain, to stop the fear.

I can hear him breathing, heavy and angry; it pushes against my neck, chilling the sweat that lingers against my burning skin. His steps are close, so close they vibrate my feet as I run. I can feel the shift in the air with every pump of his arms, the whisper of his fingers as they brush my arm.

My stomach tightens, rolling and pushing against my throat, my head swims, the pain in my shoulder blistering my reason, makes my movements clumsy.

I twist my head to the side and meet the fired ones of the man who moves behind me. He snarls, a sound so animalistic my heart stutters against my ribcage. His feet pound harder, the slap of the leather seems to echo against the cries of the people above us.

I try to mimic him, push my feet to match his but they aren't working. Panic begins to seep. I can feel it fill my pores as he closes in on me. It leeches through my skin and wraps around my brain. Everything blurs, and tips.

I hear it before I feel it, his hand shoots out and wraps around my arm, jerking it back away from my body, throwing me backwards, my legs whip out from underneath and my body smashes against the glass ridden ground.

The world is swirl of blurry of colours as my head whips backwards and collides with the concrete, my skull striking the ground with a sharp crack. Hundreds of needle like shards pierce my skin as I skid backwards across the pavement before my back snaps across one of the metal skeletons.

My eyes swim as the world around me tilts and turns. I feel heated fingers spread along my scalp as liquid fills the pocket between the corner of my eye and the bridge of my nose. Iron fills my senses and I run my tongue along my teeth, the taste of rusted metal assaulting me.

My stomach revolts and I gag, sharp, violent spasms rack my body as I try and force the nausea away.

The crowd is dull now, barely there. Clogged sound, vibrating against the cotton that fills my ears.

Somewhere I can hear a man scream, a gleeful sound.

A lustful sound. He's happy about something.

White lights pop along my vision, colours that make my eyes burn. Fire settling deep within my corneas, I burn inside out.

I can see feet moving towards me. Black toes wrapped in leather. Beside them drags a ragged metal pipe. Rust crawling along the body it abruptly stops at the tip where it was wrenched free of something. Twisted metal lips snarl at me with every step.

The feet move, the pipe bumps against the upturned stone. The mouth growling as it moves closer.

I twist my head into the ground, rubbing my face against the concrete before turning back towards the feet.

I turn my head and watch as the man above me raises the pipe above his head, a sick smile lines his lips. His fists tighten around the metal, and his shoulders lock.

The sun wraps around his body, like a bloody halo, it makes him glow crimson, the light igniting the veins in his arms, igniting them.

"No" I groan, my head pounding, the world so muted even my voice sounds faraway.

I press my palm into my eye and squint at him again. The pipe it falling towards me, the metal whistling through the air as it rushes towards my head.

My ears pop and sound rushes against my brain. Thousands of voices smash against my head, colliding as I push my torso up from the ground.

The pipe brushes my back as it rings against the concrete.

I fling my body forward and onto my knees. Stones slice against my bare skin as I force my feet under me.

My opponent screams behind me. And I know that sound that will forever linger in my bones.

I push my feet forward and I run. My arms moving beside my body, propelling me away from the danger.

The pain tears at my skin as I move, every cell in my body screaming at me to stop. To end it quickly. It makes me breathless, the searing that runs from my scalp along my spine and through my bones. It burns along my arms, and throbs within my teeth. My tongue feels too big from my mouth, blocking the air from filling my flattened lungs. My head throbs, the pulsing pain that vibrates with every slap of my feet.

I swerve around a metal body and jump over the torn concrete. My feet throb as I land unsteadily on the other side. I slam my palms against the ground to stop my body from toppling over and look over my shoulder.

He isn't running anymore but watching me. The pipe hanging limply in his hand, it dangles just above the ground. Sweat lines his brow, the water catching the sun making it look like tiny gems line his temple.

I can see the muscles in his shoulders tighten as he watches me, the vein in his neck pulsing with his heartbeat.

Slowly I straighten my back, pulling my hands away from the ground and turn to look at him. I wipe the back of my hand across my mouth and drop it back to my side, imagining the red smear that now mars my white skin.

I can still taste the blood along my tongue but I resist the urge to spit it out and squint against the sun that seems to continue to grow.

My legs are unsteady, the bones vibrating in the skin, like standing on melting wax, I sway on my feet. Sharply I shake my head to rid the haze that clings to my body and force them to straighten.

I roll my shoulders to try and loosen the knot that lives in between my shoulder blades, pushing them back to try and break away the pain that lines my spine. I fold my arms over my chest, tucking my hands under each arm to hide the tremble of my fingers.

My breathing is out of control, my lungs fluttering with every breath I take. I can't seem to keep air in body but I push away the pain that lingers in my chest and raise my chin.

I can feel the fingers of the sun as they lick against my skin, sharp fiery nails tearing the skin of my face. The heat is unforgiving, so bright and angry I can feel my flesh flaying. My eyes burn hotter, the whites filling with tears as they try to stop the burn.

I breathe in and hold it, shaking my head to rid the fear that starts to line my throat.

No.

I will not be afraid of the sun.

I force my eyes to open and look at my opponent "That all you got?" I shout over the screams of the people watching us.

His nostrils flare, his eyes darkening in the sun, the black swallowing what little colour there was. His fist tightens around the pipe, his arm coiling at his side.

I don't wait for him to move.

I lurch forward, my hands out stretched to grab at one of the metal bars that protrude from the skeleton in front of me. I wrap my fingers around the bloody orange of the pipe and wrench. My arms are shaking again, the pain lining the veins and weakening my limbs.

I grit my teeth and twist the iron where it was welded to the frame. The pewter is cracked and weak. I shove my shoulder against it, the throbbing from the arrow awakened as I smash against the metal. I pull away from it again, my elbows locked as I jerk it. It screeches as it moves and I stumble when it snaps off.

His scream seems to travel through the ground, the rage wrapping around my feet and shaking the bones in my body.

I raise the pipe out, the jagged tip pointing towards his rushing form. My arms spasm as the muscles cry against the strain, my elbows shaking and I grit my teeth. I can feel the head of the arrow move in my shoulder, the tip scraping against the bone and I grind my jaw against the fire the blooms around the wound.

He rushes towards me, the bar raised over his head. His eyes are wild, the black filling every inch of the white, like a man possessed by something angrier then I have ever seen.

I match his movements, ignoring the fire and raising the pipe higher.

He jumps over the metal barrier between us, his feet making my pulse with his landing and brings the metal down at me. I bring the pipe up and block his attack, the force of the clash rings through the arena and vibrates down my arms, and shakes my body.

He snarls, his lips pulling back against his teeth and growls. I force down the gag as his decaying breath washes over my face.

I push back against him but it doesn't seem to even register. His eyes find mine and I can feel the hate roll off and smack me in the face.

"Are you afraid to die?" he spits, his voice higher pitched than I thought it would be and I begin to wonder how old he really is.

"No" I growl as I push against him again.

His lips pull back in a smile, his pointed teeth pressing against his bottom lip, the way his mouth curls is angry, hateful.

"You should be" he pulls away from me and brings the bar back down again.

I raise my own but the force throws me off, my legs begin to shake again, and my arms crumble. He does it again, the bar rings through the stadium as it clangs with mine across my stomach. My legs stumble back and feet slip out from under me.

My head whips back against the concrete and my ears rings. White lights dance along my vision as I try to blink away the vertigo that curls around my eyes.

He steps over me, his hulking body shadowing mine. He falls to his knees, the leather of his pants brushing my arm.

I can hear the crowd around us, their voices ringing so loudly I don't doubt that they could be heard all through the city.

"Scared now?" he asks, his smiles still in place. I shake my head slowly, trying to clear it, a groan escapes my lips.

I watch him raising the metal bar above his head. The sun makes it shin, the light bouncing of the ragged edges of the aged pipe.

His eyes find their mark; they trace the curve of my hair line and linger on the blood that colours the skin. His face is filled with lust. He wants to kill me. To watch my eyes fade and the blood to run from the wound he made.

The weight of the iron on my stomach makes my fingers twitch. I tighten my grip around the dirty edges, the metal pressing against my palms.

It's heavy, so heavy I feel my face colouring with the effort to lift it. I scream against the rage that builds in my stomach and pull the pipe away from my body and up.

And then silence.

I watch his eyes widen, they fall from my forehead to my eyes. I look away and force the pipe harder, twisting the end and digging it farther in.

He wheezes, something I imagine was meant to be a scream. His hands fall away and the bar slips from his fingers. It bounces, the metal ends smashing against to the concrete beside my head.

He brings his fingers up and wraps them around the iron that protrudes from his throat. His breath is a whisper, and wet, a gurgle, like he's breathing water. His mouth falls open and red stains his teeth.

Air catches in his throat and he coughs. A spray of crimson falling over my face. I scream then, a sound that rings through my head and echoes along my skull.

His eyes seem to fade, they lose their anger, they lose everything and I watch as he dies.

His body goes limp and falls across my stomach, the pipe forced from his skin as his weight falls to the ground.

I can feel heat drip down my face and my stomach lurches. I want to wipe it away but my arms are pinned. I shake my head, trying to shake the thoughts from my brain and press the side of my face against the heated stone.

I want to cry, to have some sort of release but nothing comes. Just the pain of my body and the knowledge that I took the life of someone and now they're lying on top of me.

Dead.

People rush towards me, a group of black-clothed men, their shoulders pressed tightly together. They huddle around me and pull the body of the man off of me.

His lifeless eyes look back at me as I watch them pull him away.

His face is softer without the anger and my stomach lurches.

A boy.

I killed a boy.

Someone grabs my shoulders and pulls my body from the ground. Standing me on my feet, they grab my wrists and pull them behind my back.

I bite back against the moan of pain that rises in my throat as the arrowhead moves in my shoulder.

I turn to meet the eyes of Edward and I growl. The sound rips through me before I can stop it. His hands tighten around my wrists and he jerks me towards the podium where the rotund man stands, his hair wild and his face coloured like the blood on my face.

He clears his throat, a sharp high pitched noise and taps the microphone in front of his face. I can see the happiness that curls around his eyes.

He doesn't care who won.

He just wanted to watch someone die.

My stomach turns again.

"Winner, winner!" he sings, his voice travels around the arena and he jumps again. "Another winner!"

The crowd screams too, their enthusiasm back like it never left. Now turning their love from a man many probably knew to a stranger now covered in his blood.

I shake my head.

My heart aching for the man who just tried to murder me.

I can feel Edward standing behind me, his hands wrapped tightly around my arms. His chest brushes my back but I feel nothing.

"Don't say anything" he whispers into my ear. So low I wonder if anyone else heard it. One turn of my head tells me they didn't. I work my jaw and I turn my head back to the happy man in front of me.

I watch as he makes his way from the podium and through the crowd. They reach to touch him and he smiles back at their hungry faces. His body waddles as he steps down the stairs and disappears in the ground only to appear again through the mouth of the arena.

His feet are covered in black leather, pointed at the toe; they curl up towards his face. Bleached pants and a brightly dyed tunic are stretched over his swollen body, the treads straining at the seams.

Edward pulls me towards the man so he doesn't have to move far into the arena. But the way his body is puffing and his face is coloured I imagine he is grateful for it.

In his hand is a small cylinder and when he speaks into his voice booms through the stadium.

He smiles as we near him "Tracker James here with the recent winner of this morning's fight." He pauses and holds the mini microphone to my lips waiting for me to tell him my name.

I look down at the little speaker in front of my face before looking back up at him.

He frowns before continuing "A female Darkie." He puts on another smile and turns to the crowd "She put on quite the show, didn't she!" he yells and they yell back. He smiles and turns back to me "How does it feel to have won?" he asks and holds the mini.

My eyes find his and I stare at him. "Like I just murdered a kid" I say and my throat tightens.

Edward squeezes my wrist and growls behind me.

Tracker twists his mouth before smiling again "Aren't you witty" he reaches forward and taps my nose and grimaces at the blood that comes off on his finger.

I growl, the sound making my throat vibrate. "Don't touch me."

Tracker tsks and smiles "don't be rude."

I narrow my eyes "Fine" I snap and look him "_please_ don't fucking touch me."

Edward pulls me away from Tracker as I spit out the blood that still lingers on my tongue.

He screams as it lands on his white pants, forever staining them.

"You little" his screaming doesn't need a microphone as some pulls away the mini and rushes him from the arena.

I can hear it echo even after he's gone.

**_xxx_**

"How hard is that?" rants Edward as he drags me through the mouth of the arena and back to the hen house. "'Don't say anything' what part of that did you not understand!" He's yelling as he pulls me.

"Is that rhetorical or do you actually want me to answer that?" I look over my shoulder at him.

"You have no idea how much you just fucked things up" he shakes his head and pushes me again.

"Alright, rhetorical, apparently" Edward growls and moves me forward faster "what is with you and manhandling me, do you just enjoy pushing me around?" I narrow my eyes at him.

"Bella" he snaps, his teeth clenched tightly together.

I look back in front of me and frown.

We move in silence. The candles that line the sides of the hall flicker casting dripping faces on the damp stone walls. I imagine the sound of their screams, the hundreds of people that pasted through these halls and never came back. Like the stone absorbed each person's voices as they died just beyond the darkness.

We round a corner and light pours through the high arched doorframe. I can hear voices ahead of us and I grimace.

Cluck, cluck.

Edward sighs behind me as we walk over the threshold but doesn't release me.

All the little hens look up from the tight circles they stood in and leer at Edward.

They greet him, all waves and smiles as they rush forward and ask if he needs anything.

I look over my shoulder at him and grimace as he smiles at them.

I've never seen him smile before and it's pretty.

Gross.

"Now girls, give the young Prince some room, don't crowd" she wags her finger at the chickens and they nod their heads and slump away.

"Prince?" I raise an eyebrow at him and snort.

Edward grunts but doesn't say anything.

Esme places a hand on shoulder and looks over me at him. Edward huffs but release my wrists and steps away.

Esme looks down at my face and wipes her thumb under my eye.

My back tightens and I fight the urge to bite her.

"Esme" Edward warns but she shakes her head.

"Are you okay?" she looks down at me, her eyes search mine.

"Peachy" I mutter and look away from her.

Esme sighs and nods her head. Edward takes my hands and brings me over to the bench where I spent the night before. He lifts my hands and locks them into the metal cuffs.

My shoulders slump as I lean back against the stone wall.

He leans forward and snaps my ankles down to.

He stands and looks down at me but speaks the women behind me "my Father is coming." They squeal and start moving around again.

"Oh goody" I mutter.

"Don't speak" he snaps "listen this time" and turns to talk to Esme.

I glare at his back as he moves away from me and over to her table. He bends his head and she frowns.

The exhaustion starts at my fingers. First my nails numb then it runs along my knuckles and palms. They tingle before it spread along my arms and punctures my shoulders. They tighten and my eyes water.

My legs burn, the fire licking up the bruises that light my skin. My knees throb and my stomach rolls as the pain filly my organs like water.

My eyes are heavy, like stones fill my sockets I can't lift my head after it falls forward.

It's a long time before Edward's father decides to grace us with his presence.

By the time he does, my muscles are so cramped tears fill my eyes when I move.

My head is hanging, my eyes shut tightly against the fire in my shoulder when the door opens. It's heavy clang rings through the room and the small voices that had been weaving through the bodies stop dead.

I imagine people looking up at the man and ducking their head when his eyes meet theirs.

I don't look up.

I'm too tired to move.

Too care.

"Esme" he greets her and I picture her curtseying before his feet.

"Father" Edward says to the man.

"Edward" he greets back.

There are no more words exchanged between them.

People shuffle around me, their bodies moving quickly to make room for the King, I guess he is.

He moves to stand in front of me, his shoes peeking into my line of sight.

They remind me of Tracker's shoes, black and pointed.

"Bella" he says, his voice impatient and I realize he's waiting for me to rise and bow to him.

I test the chains, they hang lose off the walls and I know I could stand if I wanted to.

But I don't.

So I don't.

I sit with my chin resting on my chest and stare at his pointed shoes.

Someone above me sighs and I watch a hand reach out and pull me up.

Jake stands beside the King, his face impassive as he squeezes the arrow into my skin.

I hiss, the pain whipping against my chest and tears spring to my eyes.

"You bow when the King enters the room." He snaps his eyes cold.

"He's not my King" I gasp out as he presses harder.

"Bow" he growls.

"No" I pant.

"Bow!" he yells, the vein in his temple trembles as his face fills with colour.

"Jacob" snaps Edward's father "that's enough."

"But Your Highness" starts Jacob but he shakes his head.

Jacob grunts and drops me back on the bench.

"When Bella is ready she will bow" he says and turns to smile at me.

"I'll never bow to you" I spit at him.

He sighs and nods his head "Not to worry dear, there are ways to change anyone's mind" He smiles then and touches my cheek.

I grind my jaw "My thoughts are mine" I bite.

"For now" he turns away from me and moves through the crowd that now fills the prep room.

"I'm not someone's property!" I scream after him "You don't own me!"

"Until next time, Bella" he says over his shoulder "I'm excited for your next fight, you did so well."

I watch his back as he walks through the doorway and it slams behind him.

Anger builds inside my chest, the furry of what happens just beyond this room crushing my throat. I try and breathe but it catches. I shake my head and press my face into the side of my arm.

My lips tremble as I try and push away the pain in my skin.

Somewhere around someone is talking to me but I don't hear them.

I close my eyes and wish for darkness.

For everything to fade.

But behind my lids I can see the boy looking back at me.

His blood staining his dark skin, shinning like black paint in the sun.

His teeth are a faint pink colour as his mouth hangs open.

Then he blinks at me.

"Murderer"

I nod my head because he's right.

I'm a murderer.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: HELLO! **

**So I'm back with a new chapter. It was too long of a wait, I know, and I'm sorry! **

**Liked it? Let me know. PLEASE.**

**Peace and massive hugs.**


	6. Entertainment

**S.M owns all characters.**

**All mistakes are my own.**

_Entertainment – Rise Against _

_Is this only entertainment_

_Pull the curtains, places please._

_We've learned to sing and dance, and cry on cue._

_But this is more than entertainment_

_In a world so sick with pain_

_This is the only thing that's real or true._

* * *

><p>The world that once lived was messy.<p>

And angry.

So angry.

And lonely.

In the books that survived and that I was taught from I learned that the past is something that should be left behind.

They talked of pain. Of hurt. Of blood. And of war.

Pictures etched out the world that I had missed.

The famine that plagued sands, and the disease that haunted the skies.

They talked of rulers who slaughtered thousands and religions that hated.

And I always wondered where the beauty in the world went.

Or if it even existed.

Did they live thousands of years blanked in darkness?

Mother used to take my hand and walk me to the mouth of the Dark City. Her fingers would trail along the ridges of the rock wall as she laughed and sang loudly. Her voice would echo.

She had a beautiful voice.

She would show me the stars. Her fingers tracing the tiny lights and naming the shapes she drew.

She would recite to me stories that weren't written but passed down by memory.

She would tell me about how the wars had ended, and the blood had dried, and the pain had faded. She talked of how the rulers were now in the clutches of the souls they destroyed and the churches were hated just as much as they too would hate.

She talked about how the people who did bad things where given what they deserved in the end.

And that, in itself was beautiful.

I try to push that away as I sit here because I have to wonder:

When did I do such bad that I deserved this?

And I why can't I see the beauty anymore?

Do bad people only see things in shades of grey? Does the colour slip away from you as the blood of those your murder trace your fingers?

I wonder if my punishment will be beautiful.

And if it is, beautiful for who?

There is no beauty in the compound. In this life.

Is that my punishment?

I want to scream for an answer but I know no one is listening.

They haven't been for a while.

They don't want to see this.

They don't want to see how ugly the world is now.

I don't blame them.

I wish I could forget too.

**_xxx_**

They move around me like I'm not really there.

Like I don't exist.

A ghost of myself.

I wonder if that helps them push away the thoughts of the people who only went through the arch on the far side of the wall once.

If never meeting the eyes of the people they prepare keeps the dreams away when the candles are blown out.

They move around the room, their hands busy as they sew and scrub at the recently used armor. The blood from people they didn't even know the name of, stains their pale hands and gathers under their finger nails. They grimace and squawk about how trying it is.

Women pat each other on the shoulders as they move past each other, a silent comfort that _they feel their pain_.

My face twists as I watch them talk about the death of innocent people like they're discussing this year's predicted winter.

Nausea trickles along my spine as I shift against the wooden bench. Pain licks along the bruises that line my body and for the first time I want to cry.

Tears push against my lids as I imagine the looks on the faces of the people who have come before me. How they would have watched these women prepare them for the last day of their life, their blistered wrists shackled in the rusting metal cuffs that still linger with the smell of that metallic tang that only comes from a seeping wound.

They would sit where I sit, their heads barely hanging, still strong from the meal they had previous eaten and that last bit of determination that wasn't beaten from their bodies. Their heart would pound, a punishing rhythm that makes each breathe shake as it escapes their lungs. Their feet would still burn, the skin of their heels cracked from the forest trek that they were pushed through. Their flesh would still itch from the bag they pulled over their faces, their cheeks still raw from the way it rubbed against them for those unyielding hours.

They would watch the women around them, try and meet their eyes. Make them see them for more than entertainment. Their eyes would plead with anyone stupid enough to look and they would scream when they looked away just as quickly as they did when they snuck that peek.

Pain shivers down my vertebrae as one of the hens looks at point between my eyes, her pupils running down the river that has long since dried as sickly brown before her mouth contorts and she turns away.

I wonder if it's the blood that disgusts her, or just me.

Esme stands only three tables away from my chained feet, her eyes focused on something on the table before her. I watch the way her shoulders stiffen as someone whispers in her ear. A large woman, her hair pulled tightly away from her crimson face stands close to her, her bulging shoulder brushing her delicate one as she leans close and mutters something.

Esme shakes her head, her eyebrows drawing together and flicks her hand to move the woman away.

The large one huffs and the ample of her cheeks flush darker.

"I'm aware" mutters Esme, her eyes never rising.

"The others are uncomfortable" says the other.

"They'll deal" she says and turns her body slightly signaling the discussion is over.

"They shouldn't have to work in a dangerous environment" snaps the other.

"She's chained to the wall, Ingrid" Esme raises her brow to the woman "and injured."

"They would feel better—" begins Ingrid before Esme raises her hand again.

"They'll deal" it's final.

Esme turns away from Ingrid and goes back to her needle work, her head bent close to the table and the hair around her face falling to curtain her view. I wonder if she notices the way Ingrid hesitates, her bird like eyes flicking from me, to the other woman and back to Esme before she huffs and turns away from her.

I don't see her shoulders relax even when the shadow of Ingrid disappears from her light. Her eyes flick up to meet mine and they close as they begin to trace the blood that stains my skin.

I wonder if she knows that it's not all mine.

That the boy sprayed me when he died.

That his last breath was choked and he coughed.

I will never forget it.

I wonder if she knew the boy.

Did she know his name?

Was he a good person outside of the arena? Was that his first fight?

His last.

I want to shake the thoughts from head. Force them out and into the sunlight to die but they lodge themselves deep within my brain, their broken fingers caressing the memories of my mother and her blood bloomed chest.

Esme opens her eyes and they meet mine again.

I don't turn away.

I let her see the way I wear the blood. That it's spattered along my cheek bones and eye lids, but trailed from my hair line along my eye and pooled in the dip of my nose. Are my teeth still stained?

My lips are raw against each other as I rub them together. I can taste the metal and my stomach turns.

It lingers along my tongue as I swallow.

I want to wash away the memories as they line my throat.

Her eyes beg mine. I can see the way they search my face for answer.

"It was painful" I tell her, my throats tight and the words are choked. A mumble of what the sentence should have been "and he suffered."

I don't tell her to see the pain the lines her face.

But so she knows.

Because she cared about him.

And I hoped that someone did.

That he wasn't just another body that died on the sand.

That he was loved and he will be mourned.

People around me stifle sounds.

They're shocked.

I wonder if they really know what happens out there, or are they just the people that clean up afterwards.

She closes her eyes again and nods.

She doesn't open them for a long time and I wonder if she hates me like I do.

That she will pray for my death as the moon rises now.

Will she hope for revenge?

Does she want me to die?

A life for a life.

Or does she understand I didn't have a choice.

That I didn't _want _to.

Does she think I did it because I wanted him to die?

Or that I wanted to survive?

Does she blame me or the society she lives in?

When she opens her eyes, she nods, her pupils move with the light, wavering as the candles dance and they shine. I know she wants to cry, and I wish I could tell her I'm sorry. That I didn't want to hurt her. But I would be lying.

I had wanted to hurt her.

Do want to hurt her.

She dressed me to fight.

She pulled my hair from my face and braided it down my back, wound it around my head.

She knew that once she got the amour back, it would be bloody.

Did she hope it would be my blood?

I try to remind myself that with death there is pain no matter who it happens to. That it's never as easy as we make it out to be. And that sometimes death is unavoidable.

Sometimes you can't stop it.

My stomach turns because I know that's not true.

I killed him.

I wonder if she feels powerful playing God with the rest of them. And that her sadness is because of the power lost.

I shake my head against the thought.

She _knew_ that boy.

He deserves to be remembered.

And not for the body that was dragged from the arena.

His head cracking against the stones. His neck hanging backwards, his body broken.

Boneless.

But for the boy I never knew.

_He would have killed you,_ I remind myself, _he wouldn't have even blinked._

I push away the thought because I know he would.

But I don't want to be like him.

_He wouldn't have even mourned you. _

_Wouldn't have even cared. _

I look away from the tears that fall from her eyes when she blinks.

Quick drops that tumble to the table beneath her.

They aren't the kind that slide down your cheeks. That take time. Shredding your soul as they roll down your skin.

They're the kind that leave your body as soon as they spill. They splash against the wood, leaving little watermarks, like explosions behind and you stare at them like you can stare at your pain.

I know that if I could cry, they'd roll down my skin, crippling me on the inside as I'm pulled apart from within. They wouldn't stop, and I wouldn't try.

But they don't deserve to know how much it hurts.

I remind myself of that.

That to give in is to give them the satisfaction of knowing I'm in pain.

And I can't do that.

But on the inside, my lips tremble and I mourn the loss of someone I didn't even know.

Someone I killed.

_He would have killed you. _

_You shouldn't care._

But I do.

And I know that the bad things I've done will punish me for the rest of the days I spend here.

Because you can't see beauty when everything is drowning in the lives of those you've taken.

Everyone here sees nothing but grey.

**_xxx_**

I'm awake when they bring in the next victim.

I can hear her soft cries from behind the heavy wooden door, small sobs that cling to the walls as she moves past them. I can feel the sounds slither along the stone and grip at my throat, tugging as I try and breathe.

The hinges creak as the lock is turned. Two figures fill the door, the light from the candles just outside straining the light the dark room. I squint against the pain of the fire and lift my head to watch Jacob push someone through.

A small woman, her bones protruding from her skin, pressing against the paper thin flesh in jerky movements, stumbles into the room. Her feet barely lift as she walks; her tunic tattered at the edges and stained. She doesn't lift her head as they move, her hair falling around her face in a nest of burrs and bile. Scars mar her pale skin, the torn flesh shining against the little light that manages to drip through the open doorway.

Her feet are raw, blood caked so heavily around her ankles that I know that not long ago she used to fight the chains that are wrapped around my skin.

Jacob's hand tightens around her small arm and pulls her upright, his face a mask of indifference, his lips curl as he looks at the small woman and jerks her forward harder.

Her feet are heavy; I can see it in the way her legs shake to follow his large stride. Her thighs quiver against the weight of her own body, the muscles jumping as she locks her jaw.

"Come on" growls Jacob and tugs on her arm again.

I try to imagine what she used to be like, the way she probably used to fight them as they hauled her to the prep room, the way she would scream, her legs kicking out as they pulled her through the dark halls.

I picture her in the mess hall deep within the earth's confines in the Dark City. Her face clear of pain as she laughed with someone who sat closed to her. Someone who was mesmerized by her beauty and hung onto her every word like it was the last thing she would ever say.

I wonder if that person still thinks about her, and her words.

If they imagine her sitting beside them as they stare at the seat she used to occupy.

Did they hear her scream as when they took her? Or were they one of the people they took too.

I want to push away the thoughts as they cloud my brain, dripping with pain they lace raw fingers around my heart and push against it with every beat.

I lungs wheeze as I try and breathe through my mouth, my tongue so dry it's heavy against my teeth. Blood clings to my senses, the metallic tang lingering between my gums.

The woman bows her head as Jacob jerks her through the room and I wonder if I look like that to her now.

Broken.

My shoulder burns as I push my body to rest against the stone wall and watch as they move towards me.

Pain nestled deep between my eyes throbs in time with my heart beat, and I grit my teeth against the nausea that rolls in my empty stomach as it clenches against the stale air that passes between my teeth.

Jacob tosses the woman beside, her spine cracking against the wall. She bites her li.

I can see the blood that begins to well around her teeth, but she doesn't release it. Her shoulders shake, trembling as Jacob moves around her, plucking her bone like arms and tightening the cuffs around her wrist. He doesn't even bother with her ankles, just picks up her legs by her calves and adjusts them.

She doesn't fight.

Just stares ahead a she cries.

Jacob nods at his work as he looks down at the broken woman and taps her chin.

"Don't move" he says, his eyes tracing her face then he laughs and shakes his head.

Anger wells along my skin, a sick bile that rolls through my stomach as I watch this man stare at the woman and enjoy her pain.

I pull against my chains, my shoulder igniting under the movements. The bite of metal is sharp as it digs along the skin of my wrists.

Jacob turns and straightens "I haven't forgotten about you" he reassures me like I'm supposed to be worried.

I growl under my breath and jerk my legs against the cuffs.

Jacob sucks on his front teeth before moving around the chained woman and coming to crouch in front of me.

He reaches out and tips my chin up to look him in the eyes.

I jerk away from him and his fingers pinch my skin.

My eyes water as his nails dig against my chin.

"Don't disrespect someone of higher status then you" he tells me, his voice a sharp snap.

"All I see is a pussy with a gun" I sneer towards the riffle strapped to his back. The one that was used against the Darkie in the ruins.

Angela smiles at me. Her dark hair falling over her shoulders, and her eyes dancing. Then the shoot rings. I watch the bullet as it slices the air and presses against her forehead before splitting through the skin, cracking the bone. I watch my best friend paint the wall.

I press against the sob that clings to my lungs. My eyes burn and my throat collapses into itself.

Then he hits me.

My head snaps sideways against the force, my temple colliding with the stone wall beside me. The woman wails, her sobs filling the silence.

Things tilt, they spin and I force the nausea as it fills my throat.

Pain fills my lips and I know he split it. It colours my skin as it drips.

"You bitch" he snarls and I wonder if he's going to hit me again.

I spit against the stained floor at his feet and look at him "That the only way you can get hard? Beating on someone? Must be lonely at night."

His fists tighten, the cords in his neck straining against the crimson flesh that holds the heavy column of his throat.

His eyes flick towards the door before he steps closer to me, the heat from his anger laps against my bar legs and I return the burn in his eyes. Jacob reaches out and squeezes my shoulder, his finger digging the arrow through my skin. Pain flares along my spine and I go ridge, my teeth gritting as I try and wash away the pain as it layers my skin.

Tears prick my eyes.

He sees.

His smile curls his lips into a jagged smirk before he leans forward.

"Do you really want to test me" he hisses, spittle flies from his lips and splatters against my cheek "you're nothing but a cheap entertainment, no one would miss you, they wouldn't even notice."

"Jake" calls someone behind him. Jacob's body stiffens and his face tightens. His eyes cut over his shoulder again and he growls under his breath, his fingers releasing my shoulder and I slump against the cold stone.

"Edward" he says and steps away from me.

Edward's body fills the doorway as he leans against the open door, his shoulder pressed against the hinges. His fingers slide along the cylinder of a flashlight as he flips it between his fingers.

"Busy?" he raises a brow before pushing off and stepping into the darkness.

"Just delivered" says Jacob as he motions to the shaking woman.

Edward nods before walking towards us "Any reason she's still here?" he nods to me and I glare at him.

"I have a name" I mutter and he turns to look at me.

"And?"

I narrow my eye at him "You're insufferable."

He ignores me and watches Jacob "she was supposed to be moved when the ladies left."

"I have other duties besides babysitting" says Jacob, his teeth clenched.

"You're duties are to follow my orders" says Edward, his eyes cool.

I watch Jacob's face tighten, his cheeks filling with blood as he clenches his jaw. He breathes through his nose before nodding "My apologies, please excuse my behaviour" he doesn't mean it. "I'll take her to Carlisle right now" No he won't.

Edward sighs and shakes his head "I'll do it myself" he turns towards me "You're dismissed" he says over his shoulder. Jacob glares at the back of his head before looking at me. His eyes narrow as he promises we'll continue later before turning on his heels and marching through the open door.

Edward crouches down in front of me, his eyes find mine and they narrow "Don't even think about doing anything stupid."

"What's your definition of stupid?" I cock my head and look down at him.

"Anything that's going through your head right now" you mutter as you reach from the metal cuffs around my ankles.

"Well that's a little vague" I frown down at the top of his head.

"I wish you'd stop talking" he says as the cuffs snap off.

My ankles burn as the stale air wraps around them. I can feel the dried blood crack as I twist my feet in slow circles.

Edward's hand snaps out and grasps my ankle before I can push it off the floor and plant it between his legs. "Stupid" he says and grips both of my ankles in one of his hands. I narrow my eyes at him and struggle against his hold. "Stop" he snaps and his hand tightens.

"No!" I shout, my wrists tugging at the shackles as I twist my ankles in his grip "I'm never going to stop fighting you. For as long I live in the hell hole I'm going to fight you" I grit between my teeth.

Shades trace Edward's cheek bones "you're only hurting yourself, darlin'" he says and stands over me, his hand leaving my ankles to reach my hands. He fiddles with one then the other, snapping them open at the same time. I kick out at him and the side steps the assault quickly. His hand curls around my arrowless shoulder and hauls me up.

My legs are weak; the blood rushing through my body makes them quiver as he sets me on my feet. Needles prick my skin as I shake under my own weight.

Edward pulls a pair of leather cuffs from his belt and wraps them around my throbbing wrists. They're soft against my raw skin and my shoulder drop under the relief.

Edward stands behind me, his hand on the small of my back he pushes me forward "Move" he says and I force my shaking legs to take step.

The woman whimpers as we move our way through the tables and towards the door. I look over my shoulder at her slightly blue tinted eyes and I throat tightens. Her eyes follow mine as I'm pushed out the door.

The last thing I see tears filling her eyes again and rolling down his dirtied cheeks.

She's going to fight again.

And I wonder if she's happy at the possibility of dying or scared of the possibility of surviving.

**_xxx_**

Edward leads me through the candle lit halls and I wonder what time of day it is.

What day it is.

There aren't any windows in the long winding halls. Nothing to light the way but the waving fire from the tip of the off white wax that drips from the wrought iron holders along the walls.

Edward's steps are steady, the calm footfalls mocking my jerky movements as my bones grind together.

He nods to people that pass him, but he never opens his mouth, never says a word in return to the cheery greetings that people cast his way.

I watch the way their faces fall when all they receive is a quick jerk of his head and I wonder if they wish for some sort of encouragement.

We follow the hall before turning right and walking down the slight slope of the floor to the door to the compound.

Edward pulls the key from his pocket, unlocks the door and steps inside the death room.

I don't see the faces of the people around me, just their eyes. Wide and white they watch the Day Walker pull me through the mess and to the closed door of the doc. Edward knocks sharply before pushing it in and pulling me with him.

Carlisle looks up from his desk and he shakes his head and pushes away "I was hoping we wouldn't be seeing each other so soon" he says to me and nods towards the exam bed again.

"Likewise" I pull my arm from Edwards grip and limp my way over.

Carlisle nods his head towards my wrist and Edward unties and pulls them from my skin. I flex my fingers and twist my wrists as I prop myself up on the table for the second time in less than two days.

Carlisle steps up to me and leans forward. My back stiffens as he reaches behind me and pulls the leather choker from my throat.

He drops it to the table and unhooks my sleeves and slides them off as well.

He tilts my chin to the side as he eyes the weeping wound.

He clucks his tongue and shakes his head "Arrow?" he asks over his shoulder and Edward nods.

"Someone let him sneak it in" says Edward, his mouth tight.

"They always do" Carlisle turns away from me to his desk. "This is the second time you have come to me with an arrow wound" he says to me.

"People like shooting at me" I try and shrug, the skin along my shoulders is tight and I wince.

"No moving" says Edward and I glare at him.

"Evidently" says Carlisle and comes back with the same bottle as before and a pair of tongs.

I bite my lip as he pours the cleaner on a cloth and wipes the tongs before disinfecting the area around the wound.

My eyes water as the burn settles in my shoulder. I turn away as he moves towards me with the forceps.

Edward is watching Carlisle, his eyes fixed on the metal they move towards my skin. They're cold, and I jump as he presses them against my shoulder. He grunts and motions Edward forward and nods at my hands.

"No moving" he repeats and places his hands over mine, successfully holding me in place and dwarfing my own.

Carlisle presses the cold utensil against my heated skin and I grit my teeth as it follows the path the arrow took. The tip of the clamps brushes the wooden shaft and my stomach turns. Pain rips through my skin and I'm shaking.

I can feel as he slowly lets them open, stretching my skin from the inside. They grip the broken wooden tip and gently tug it from the confines of my flesh. A whimper escapes my lips as he pulls the pointed tip and small piece of dowel from my skin and drops it into the tray he set beside my hand.

I can feel the blood slowly seep from the gaping flesh around my collar bone and my head spins.

"Hold her up" says Carlisle as he turns away from me and grabs a long strip of white fabric.

Edward's hands leave mine and wrap around my back, his fingertips brushing my rib cage.

Carlisle presses the stinging cloth against my shoulder and the breath I managed to take in whoosh from between my teeth. He presses it against my skin before binding it with the clean fabric.

I grimace as he ties it under my arm "Ouch" I mutter and pull away from the hands behind me "I'm fine now." Edward jerks away from me and scowls.

"You done?" he asks Carlisle and he shakes his head.

"Gotta check her head" he nods to the blood that stains my face and I raise my hand to touch my matted hair. "Turn your head" he reaches out and twists my chin so I looking at Edward as he probes my skull.

His eyes are narrowed as they watch the doc examine my head before he turns and looks at the wall behind my body.

"Can you tell me your name?" asks Carlisle.

"You know my name" I say.

There is a pause.

I sigh.

"This is ridiculous."

"Name" he mutters as he checks my head again.

I roll my eyes. "Bella"

"Last?"

"Like it fucking matters" I scoff.

"Last?" Carlisle asks again and I pull away from him.

"No."

Edward moves closer "Bella" he warns, his voice low.

"I know my name, doesn't mean you need to know."

"I need to make sure you don't have a concussion" says Doc and I narrow my eyes.

"You'll just have to take my word for it" I cross my arms over my chest.

"I would feel better if—"

"I suppose it's a good thing I don't care if you would feel better if I told you, eh?"

Edward moves forward again but Doc puts his hand up "it's fine Edward." He turns towards me "Follow my finger" and he moves it past my eyes and I follow it, my gazing tracking it. He nods and steps away "You're fine."

"Oh yay, I'm all set to do it again."

Edward narrows his eyes and steps up beside me, his fingers curling around my elbow.

"Oh yes" Carlisle mutters as he goes back to his desk "I heard you quite something, a real gem. Show stopping if I remember correctly."

_Show stopping._

My throat clenches as I think of how the show was stopped.

The blood on my face itches.

I sneer at his white covered back "That makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside, really it does. To know I can help you sick bastards get your rocks off" I narrow my eyes at Edward as he glare back down at me "A dream come true."

"It was a pleasure, Bella" says Carlisle, ignoring me, from his desk, his back to us. "Let's hope you aren't back so soon, yeah?"

"Whatever" I mutter as Edward pulls me from the room and slams the door shut behind us.

"Watch your mouth" he snaps as he pulls me past the Darkie that lay on the floor near the door. "Carlisle isn't the one you're mad at, don't take it out on him" he pushes me down on my bed and stands above me.

Always above me.

"You think I'm _mad_?" My teeth clench as I work my jaw. "Of all the words that could be used to describe how I feel right now, _mad _doesn't even begin to cover it." I tighten my fists. "I just watched someone _die _Edward. I watched his life drain from his eyes and colour the ground. I _felt _him die. I _made _him die." I swallow the sand that lines my throat. "I can't even begin to imagine what _mad _feels like." I shake my head "You took my from the only place that has ever been home, murdered my family, my best friend and then you forced me to murder someone, someone's family, someone's best friend. You made me like _you_" I spit the word at him. "You want me to lay the blame on someone? Ignore the fact that everyone else here sits and watches those fights, cheers for someone to win? Does that make them good people? Because they aren't the ones fighting? Does that make them any less guilty?" He works his jaw as I look at him, he's angry.

_Mad._

"You want to know how I'm feeling? I'm not _mad, _I'm fucking furious, and when I get free, because I promise you, somehow I'm going to get out of here, you're going to be the first one I show exactly how angry I really am!" I screech as my anger boils through my body.

His face is so tight he looks about to crack. Blood pounds in the vein along his temple and his lips are pressed so tightly they're white.

His eyes are burning, the green flaring as they trace along my flushed face before he turns away, his boots clipping against the stone floor. He opens the door and slams it shut behind him.

Alice is sitting with her back against the headboard like she always does.

I turn to look her in the eyes and he purses her lips.

"You have blood on your face" she says before turning away and laying down, her back facing me.

I run my fingers along my cheek "yeah" I mutter.

"Did it hurt?" she asks over her shoulder.

"Did what hurt?"

"When you killed him" she says, her voice low.

"Yeah" I mumble "it did."

"Good" she nods to herself "you're still one of us."

Silence seems to lick at my legs. My head throbs with my pulse.

"I've killed before him" I tell her.

She says nothing.

"One of the people who were trying to kidnap me."

"Did he deserve it?" she asks.

"Is that for me to decide?"

"Is it?" she asks.

"He would have done worse to me" I say.

"Probably" she agrees.

"It didn't feel the same" I say.

"That was survival" she says "this, this is entertainment."

It's her words that keep me up at nights and I wonder if she's right.

Then I wonder if she sees colourful world.

Or if hers is just as grey as mine.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: 'Sup lovelies?**

**Yup, back with another chapter. whoo! Although not much happens in this bad boy. Don't worry, it'll pick up again! I SWEAR.**

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	7. Beg For Mercy

**M.S owns all characters**

**I own my mistakes.**

_Beg For Mercy – Oceans Divide_

_Fully you can see_

_All you took from me._

_I want to watch you suffer._

_Like you watch me burn._

* * *

><p>I once read that the people before us buried their dead.<p>

Holes were dug deep into the earth as they laid them to rest in wooden beds.

Marked with stones, their loved ones came and paid respects to someone who wasn't collecting anymore.

I'm not sure I find that comforting.

To know someone I love is slowly rotting within the earth.

But I imagine it was more for the people that were left behind then the one who did the leaving.

The day we finally laid my mom to rest they dug they warped metal from her chest and burned her body.

I remember the way the fire started at the tips of her fingers, wrapping lusting tendril around her skin and pulling it from the bones along her corpse.

Grandfather stood at my side, his hands clasped over a small leather book, the skin of the cover cracker and withered after years of hands stroking it.

We do not touch, and we do not speak.

Behind me, I could hear my guard as she stood, her back against the wall, and her eyes watching mine. She had been breathing heavily from the smoke that clogged the air causing her chest to rattle.

There were no words spoken as the flames began to eat the rest of her body, and no one held my hand as I watched hers begin to char.

I watched as the clouds of smog began to swirl against the stone ceiling, wispy figures dancing along the rock before passing through the vents and leaving us behind.

"Come," Grandfather had said to me, his birdlike hand wrapping around my shoulder. "It's time to go."

I looked up at him and jerked my skin away from him "Don't touch me" I hissed and my guard moved to stand behind me.

Her hand was cold as it took the place of where Grandfather had let go and pulled me from my mother's burning body.

It was then I wanted to scream.

To release the pressure that had built within my chest as I watched the cloaked man light my mom ablaze.

Clamping my teeth, I turned on my heel and followed my warden through the arching doorway and down the hall.

I did not look back to watch my last living relative emerge behind us and I did not speak when he told me he would see me soon.

He didn't.

Six days later I was kidnapped.

**_xxx_**

When I fight again, I feel nothing.

And I feel everything.

The sun is too hot, and it burns.

The crowd to loud, they cheer for anyone to die.

The wind whips through the bowl, howling against the metal skeletons that line the floor.

Pain flares through me as she kicks in my ribs.

Her scream filtering through my brain like something I should know.

The blood that stains my teeth is hot as her fist connects with my jaw.

Sand beats against my legs, scrapping at my skin.

My body is broken, and I'm moving through a life that shouldn't be.

Again she kicks me, the tip of her metal plated foot striking my knee.

I can't stand.

I fall.

Rock imbeds into my skin.

She lands on top of me.

Her skin is too hot.

Her face so angry.

I press my hands against her shoulders.

She won't move and I'm stuck.

Nails drag along my face as her fingers claw at my skin.

Shrieks of laughter escape her chapped lips.

I want to run, to escape.

She holds me down.

Her elbow connects with my stomach.

I heave against the pressure.

Bile coats my throat.

Fingers wrap around my neck.

Soon I will have nothing but the bruises with her prints.

I want it to end.

Why won't it just end?

I try to breathe.

I can't.

I want to scream.

I bring my hands up again and press against her body.

She tightens her hands and I'm choking.

The crowd is so loud.

I bring my knees up and press against her body.

She screams, her dark eyes flaring at me.

I slip my feet under her and jerk her forwards.

My hands pushing her up.

She loses her balance and falls over me.

I hear the crack of her head.

And feel the instant she stops moving.

I scream against the horror that fills my body.

My tears burn against the pain along my face.

I want to close my eyes.

To never see this again.

But I don't.

I look at her.

The way her neck is bent wrong.

The blood that stains her face.

And the rock that ate half her skull.

I want to scream.

But I don't.

I lay there.

And I cry.

I feel everything.

And I feel nothing.

**_xxx_**

There is no time.

No seconds, or minutes.

No hours to count or days to cross out.

My existence has begun to swim within a pool of everything and nothing, colliding and breaking into a mess of memories, thoughts so blurred I can't pick within what is my mind and what is pictures I have taken from the world outside.

Fatigue numbs my bones and as I tap my fingers against the rusting spring that has managed to rip through the thin mattress beneath, I watch through closed eyes as my life slips through my fingers.

There are times when everything stops and I can hear the cry of someone in pain. The way their bodies twist and press against the fire that laces their bones. The mattress creaks beneath them, and their teeth snap as they scream against the burn.

Then there are times when everything around becomes nothing but a noise. A long tortured sound that fills the cracks and beats against my head. A never ending cry of people's fear, leaving tortured shreds of the humans they had once been.

Those are the times when I wish sound didn't exist anymore.

Then everything slows and I can count the breaths the leave Alice's chapped lips.

I can catch the way her lungs rise and the way they fall as she expels another lungful, another second of the life that she hasn't lost yet.

_"I count my life in the breaths I take not the ones I don't"_ she had said to me as I told her how time has no meaning anymore.

_"Don't count the seconds between, count the ones when you know you're alive." _

Winding my finger along the curling metal, I twist my hand along the exposed rusted tip.

The pain that should have burned through my body as I moved along the bed no longer ignites within my flesh, bringing forth the fact that the time that has left me behind has taken my body with it.

The swirls of fire that had once lingered along my skin have faded away with the seconds as I stared at the ceiling, losing myself in the greys of the stone.

In the greys of my life.

Of the Compound and everyone fading within it.

There is a part of me that knows I should have died already but Alice tells me that the cup they make us drink from in the prep room keeps us going.

Till we're nothing but flesh stretched over bone.

And we want death.

Somewhere around me people are speaking.

Clipped and chopped words as they grunt above me.

I can hear the way their mouths move along the words, rounding over the curves of sentences as they string together a verse meant to mean something to the person they converse with.

A hand wraps around my shoulder and shakes at my body.

There is strength with the palm, and warmth. It lingers along my skin as they remove themselves and step away from me.

Someone bends near me, I can hear their joints crack as they move, their knees popping as they bow. Then hands are sliding under my back, the movement pulling my tunic and tightening it around my shoulders.

The world around me moves as I am lifted from the bed, my fingers running over the spring that came with my hand. My head lulls and my eyes watch the upside down world sway in shades of fading grey.

I can see Alice as she shakes her head, her mouth a firm line as she watches my body being carried towards the door neighbouring us.

They don't knock as they step inside and drop me on the examine table, my head cracking against the wood.

Pain begins along the base of my skull, a lazy sway of twinges that dance along my bones.

I can hear Doc as he yells at the dropper.

His words loud against the small room, so loud they stuff their way through my ears and beat against my brain.

My head swims as my eyes find the window above us, a small rectangle that lets in the light of a dying day.

"You inbreed moron" Doc's words fall over my skin as he leans over me and twists my head softly to one side, checking the back of my head.

"She dead?" grumbles the man who brought me here and Doc huffs.

"Of course she isn't." Doc moves away from me and I can hear the clang of his tools.

"Then I ain't a moron" says the guard, folding his arms over his chest.

"That's debatable" snaps Doc.

"What's wrong with her?" he asks, ignoring Doc as he mutters to himself.

"She's in shock."

"Been a long while" says the guard.

"Yes, I am aware" says Doc and moves back to me.

"I have orders" says the guard.

"Again, I am aware" he says as he drags a light along my open eyes.

It burns, a fire that licks along my bare retinas causing my eyes to water and groan to build in the back of my throat.

"You need to wake up Bella" says Doc softly, his voice a whisper along my skin.

I want to ask him that what is there to be awake for but death; to wake is to kill again, to die again.

Doc sighs above me "She's responsive but I can't do much but coax. She'll have to be rescheduled."

"He won't be happy" says the guard and Doc frowns.

"There isn't anything I can do" he says "you'll have to get another."

The guard sighs, and says "He really wanted her" his lips twisting as he looks at Doc and then at me.

"He pushed her to far, should have taken the side effects into consideration first before scheduling her over and over again" says Doc as he moves to his desk. "She needs time, I'll keep her here for observation but other than that I can't do anything."

"It's been two weeks" reminds the guard as he moves towards Doc "that's more than enough time to recover."

"Physically maybe, but not mentally."

Within my head the days that have begun to blur snap and I try to remember the last time I was truly aware of one day ending and another beginning.

Doc sighs and I can hear the stool scrap the stone floor. "There isn't much more I can tell you, she won't be functional for tonight, so reschedule."

The guard growls, the sound vibrating in his throat before he nods tightly and turns on his heels, walking through the door and slamming it as he passes.

"Imbecile" mutters Doc and turns to work out something on his desk. "I know you can hear me" he says and stands, walking back towards me "So I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do." Leaning over me I can see the glass tube and needle in his hand. Pressing on the syringe he removes the last of the air within the mixture and turns his eyes to me. "I'm going to give you a sedative to help you sleep. It'll pinch but you'll feel no pain."

I want to scream at him, to push away his hand but my fingers only twitch at my side, my fingers sliding along the small spring within my palm.

"Don't be afraid Bella" he whispers to me as he rolls up my sleeve, twist my wrist up and taps the crook between my elbow "everything is going to be okay." I feel it break my skin, the sharpened metal invading my body but I do nothing.

Everything within me is lost inside itself and I have no control.

I watch as he presses down on the top and the liquid is injected inside my body. I try to bat away his hand, my arm lifting and falling like I'm filled with stones, too heavy to move.

I open my mouth, my tongue swollen against my teeth. "Don't" I try to mumble as he pulls the needle from my vein and dabs at the tiny pinprick.

"Everything's going to be alright" he tries to soothe, "sleep."

I try to press against the darkness that washes at the corners of my eyes. Blinking against the pull that wraps around my lids and tugs them closed.

In my head I'm screaming, the sounds vibrating within my body.

Outside everything is silent, and the darkness fills my vision.

I see nothing.

And everything is gone.

**_xxx_**

Somewhere among the darkness that lingers along thoughts I am aware of the tiny puncture that breaks my skin and the voice that laces my ears telling me that I'm lucky they're giving me my shot, that if I had gone on much longer I would have died.

I want to tell them that I had wanted that, that I had lost the fight within myself to escape the pain we have been forced to feel.

That everything that happens to me isn't luck; that they want to me so close to death I am begging for it before they pull me back.

I want to reach out and shake them, screaming at them to let me go, that it's better then entering the arena again, but they tell me I'll be okay soon and the needle is slid from my skin.

I want to tell them that nothing is ever going to be okay again, but they leave and I am forgotten.

**_xxx_**

I am haunted.

I see the faces of those who have died before me, and they scream at me as I lay within myself.

Hating me, they tug at my skin and shake my bones.

They punish me for being weak.

Scream at me.

Tear at me.

I want to push them away, to explain that everything is gone.

But they cry, and I'm burning.

I want to shake away the hurt as it lick along my fingers, twisting around my wrists and sliding up my arms.

Fire is all I feel, a pain so hot it crisps my skin as it dances across my flesh.

And I am burning.

And they are screaming.

Because I am weak.

And I've lost myself.

Somewhere in the grey.

**_xxx_**

When I wake, I am alone and my limbs are strapped to the table beneath me.

Biting my tongue against the scream that builds along my teeth, I turn my head and pull against the leather that encases my wrists.

Swallowing past the acid that lines my throat I try to lift my heavy head.

Jagged bloody lines trace my veins from my elbow to my wrist on both arms and I stare at them. The crimson colour has dried to black, flaking as I pull against the cuffs.

"You were tearing your skin off" says a voice as the door opens. Jerking away I turn and watch as Doc strolls into the room. "We had to take necessary precautions."

"By strapping me to a table" I say, my voice a whisper as I exercise the cramped muscle.

"It was to keep you safe" he insists and pulls his stool in front of the table and sits down

"It was to keep from damaging merchandise any further" I bite and turn my head away from him.

The light from the window is brighter than before. A white light instead of a grey one and I can see the tiny dust dancers twirl in the casting rays.

Late morning.

"I see you got your quick wit back" Doc notes drily.

"Was that you making a joke?" I snap back and jerk my legs against the restraints.

Doc sighs and leans away from me, his aged face tilting towards the little sun that leaks into the stone room before looking back at me and saying "Want to tell me what happened?"

I press my lips into a hard line and look away from him. "No."

"No?" he asks.

"Nope."

He sighs "You should discuss it with someone" he tells me.

"Maybe" I pause "but it won't be with you."

Doc breathes through his mouth, exhaling deeply before saying "How do you expect me to help you if you won't tell me what's wrong?" he pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head.

I scoff and look at the medical table next to my head "The only thing I expect from you, Doc, is to keep patching me up no matter how much I tell you I don't want to go on, because that's your job" we meet each other's eyes "so do your job and stop acting like this is anything but what it is. We aren't friends, we aren't two people feeling each other's pain, we are nothing and I don't want your help."

I watch as Doc's jaw works together, a muscles jumping as he breaths through his nose.

Then he nods "Very well" and stands.

Reaching over my body, he slips the leather restraints off my hands before going to work on my ankles.

I pull my wrists to my body to cradle the broken skin on both arms and watch as Doc slides the bands off my legs allowing me to pull them towards me as well.

Moving over to his little medical table he grabs the bottle of disinfectant I have come to recognize and a wrap of clean white cloth. Turning to me he holds out his hand and I lay my arm in his. He pours the clear liquid on the cloth and whips at dried blood along my arm.

The sting runs along my skin and I watch the cloth turn from a stark white to blood red as he runs it over my skin.

Once he's finished one arm he grabs the other and begins again. I turn away from him and watch the door across from me. Beyond it I can hear only the faintest of cries, soft noises that lull between the cracks in the door.

"They will be here soon" says Doc as he finishes and moves away.

I nod my head and look down at the rips in my skin where my nails tore through. Flexing my fingers I watch the opened flesh move with the tendons clenching.

Pain cripples me and I hiss before shaking out my fingers and turning to watch Doc as he shuffles papers on his desk.

I want to ask him why he does it, saves us when we don't want to be saved. If he understands how much it hurts to face the moments in our life we want to escape or if he ignores the pleas in our eyes because we aren't like him, and we don't exist in his life as anything but animals.

I want to tell him what it was like to murder that kid, just so he will understand why it hurts to breathe.

And I want to tell him what it's like to lose yourself, to forget your name and your life beyond the grey stones that line the ceiling of your cell.

But I don't.

Because we are too different and we don't live in the same world.

Because my words incriminate me, make me into what they want.

Because there is nothing I can do, and there is nothing he will do.

So I sit and I watch as he moves through his life and I wonder how everything came to be as it is now and if somewhere deep in the past we could have been more than a prisoner and a warden.

**_xxx_**

I can smell iron.

The metallic tang that lingers in the air even after the candles have been blown out and the rusting blood has dried on the bench beside me.

A man, not much younger then Grandfather had sat beside me, his spine arched and his wrist held tightly to his shivering body.

He had been screaming, his frame shaking violently as the women in Prep had moved closer to him, cooing silly words of comfort as they held buckets in their hands and needles in the other.

Cries were trapped in his chest as he held the stub to his stomach; his head shaking as he spewed spittle against the candle lit air.

Esme had stood beside him, her hand resting on his shoulder and I watched as he tried to pull away from her.

"Don't fucking touch me!" he screamed and jerked against the chains that held his one wrist and ankles.

Blood had matted his white hair when the killing blow had been dealt and dripped down his face, staining his ancient neck.

Someone came to stand between us and jerked at his chains, pulling his uninjured hand up and away from his body before wrapping their hand in his hair and wrenching his head against the wall.

The women moved quickly then, dipping cloths into the buckets and wiping at the bleeding stub of bone where his hand have been severed before stitching it quickly and moving away.

I watched as his tears fell and the blood dripped from the tight stitching, both of them hitting the floor and disappearing with the rest of the pain that lies on the stones of Prep.

His cries didn't stop when they moved him.

Or when they walked him down the hall to the Compound.

Long after he was gone they echoed within my throat.

Shadows pass under the door, light footsteps moving over the chilled stone floors.

A small form unlocks the door and pushes it open, filling the room with the light of the candles from the wrought iron holders just past the threshold.

Sniffing the room, she grimaces before quickly moving around to the wilting wax lumps, lighting small flames as she goes.

Behind her six other's follow, their red tunic flashing in the dim light and I wonder if they know they dress in the same shade as the people bleed just beyond their walls.

Dropping my head, I watch as the shadows move around my body, their black fingers drawing along my pale skin before fluttering and dying.

I can hear as more people enter the room but I don't look up, there is just no point in trying to catch their eyes, they don't _want _to see me as anything more than a job.

Ingrid's heavy voice floats around my head as she speaks to the women around me.

Someone important to them steps through the door then.

I know because the people around me stop.

"Majesty" says Ingrid and I wonder which Royal I am blessed to see today.

A light chuckle fills the room and I grind my teeth.

Edward's father moves through the room and comes to stand in front of me.

"How are you this morning, Bella?" he asks and I wonder if I could get away with head butting him before they shot me.

I work my jaw as I stare at the ground, my fingers clenching at my sides.

When I don't answer him, he snaps his fingers and someone's hand pinches my chin, forcing my head up to meet his eyes.

Edward's father sits in a small wooden chair in front of me, his elegant robes folding around him like drapes of liquid gold. His hair is braided still, pulled in front of him and resting in his lap.

I don't know his real name, but I will never call him King.

"I have a surprise for you" he says after studying my face.

He folds his lean fingers in his lap and smiles at me.

His teeth are white and I wonder how he keeps them so clean.

Then I imagine someone polishing each one for him and my stomach rolls.

I don't have anything to say, there is nothing left for him to take from me, but anything ever given by someone is power always has a price too high to pay.

Edward's father nods to the guard who stands at the door and he barks a command to the people outside the door.

A man, his hands bond in front of him, struggles against the men that hold him as he's catered through the door.

White eyes flash through the room before landing on me and Edward's father.

"What the fu—" he grunts as a fist lands in his stomach and he doubles over coughing.

"Watch your mouth" snarls one of the guards as he spits at the Darkie below him.

Something in my stomach heaves and I look at Edward's father.

He smiles and draws a long nailed finger along my cheek "You're talented but with nothing to test your limits." He looks at the struggling man. "With him, everything will be tested."

I fight against the bile that churns in my stomach "No" I whisper, shaking my head "I won't."

Edward's father laughs and shakes his head, pulling his hand away from my face "I didn't hear myself giving you a choice." His shoulders shake "You really are something, my dear."

"You'll have to kill me" I tell him "because there is no fucking way I'm doing this."

Edward's father stops and looks at me "Either it's this man, or it's that pretty little thing you have become so fond of." The way his eyes meet mine chill me and I pull against the man who holds my face. "It's your choice, my dear; either way, someone will die today and it won't be one of my people."

Edward's father stands then and walks away from me.

A scream builds in my chest and I screech against my teeth, jerking my face from the sweating hands of the guard and pull against my chains.

The two guards wrestle the man to the bench and sit him at the end, away from me, chaining his wrists and ankles before stepping away and going to stand by the door once again.

He grunts and thrashes, cursing the men that stand to the side and the women who work away from us, ignoring him as they sew together the thick leather armor.

"You're wasting your breath" I tell him and he curses me.

I curse me too.

Anger swells within my stomach as I watch the Day Walkers work around me and I to want to shout at them, to curse and yell at them. But I shake my head because they won't listen to me, and drop my eyes once again; the fight within myself feeding the despair that drowns my body.

I hate them so much I burn with the sickness.

I want to scream and shake and cry and beat them down but I'm chained to a wall and they don't even acknowledge me.

Esme moves through the room then in a swirl of crimson fabric and the women chatter to her.

They recap the events she missed and how exciting this fight will be.

"What the hell is wrong with you people!?" the man yells as they laugh. "You sick sons a bitches!"

"Get Edward" says Esme to one of the woman "He'll need to be here."

Someone objects but she holds up a hand and they run out.

Lifting my head I watch as Esme moves to the man with the cup and I grit my teeth.

I want to tell him not to drink it. That it will keep you alive.

But he won't understand.

Esme speaks in soft tones and lifts the cup to the man's lips.

He snarls and pulls away but she continues to hold the cup up and talking until he nods slightly and she tilts it over his lips.

Esme looks at me and I look back her and I tell everything I never will.

I tell her how much I hate her for doing this to me.

I tell her about the people who have died because of me, and the way they looked when the last bit of life drained from their eyes.

That it's her fault as much as it is mine that they died.

She did it as much as I did.

They all did it.

She turns away from me, smiles at the man and moves back to her needlework.

I press my lips together and begin to count the seconds.

_One._

_Two._

_Three._

**_xxx_**

Edward stands behind me, his hand resting on my elbow as Esme adjusts the leather along my arms, clipping them into place and braiding my hair.

He's breathing softly against the skin exposed on my shoulders, every exhale rustling the hair that rests on the nape of my neck

Esme steps away from me and nods to Edward and he pulls me away from her to the mouth of the dark hallway.

She doesn't wish me luck this time and I wonder if she finally realizes how worthless those words really are.

Edward says nothing as we walk.

And I have nothing to say.

Behind me I can hear the shouts of the man, and the curses that roll through the tunnel behind me.

Twisting around the corner Edward pulls me to a stop and looks down at me.

"Will you fight?" he asks and I say nothing.

I look up at him and watch as his eyebrows pull together and his hand tightens on my arm.

"Will you fight?" he asks again, his words biting.

What is there to say?

"Answer me!" he snarls as he shakes my arm.

"I don't know!" I yell and pull at his hold.

"You have to fight, Bella" he says.

"Why?" I demand "Why do I _have _to fight? Why doesn't he _have _to fight? Why am I so much better? So much more valuable than him?"

He doesn't answer me and I know it's because he can't.

There is no way to put a measure on a life.

No way to define someone in worth.

"Why do you even care?" I mutter, my throat aching.

"I don't" he says and I nod.

"Of course," I spit the acidic words "just making sure the merchandise isn't breaking."

"Bella" he says and I nod again.

"Time to go."

Edward looks down at me, his face so twisted before he nods and we begin to move again.

I can hear the crowd.

I know the sound so well it fills my body.

The gates are open this time and Edward walks me through and out into the arena.

This time I am the opponent.

I'm sick.

It's so hot, sweat slicks my skin as soon as the sun hits and my eyes burn.

We walk away from the mouth of the tunnel and the people are crying above us.

Edward turns me so I'm facing the entrance.

He bends his head slightly.

"Don't die" he whispers and walks away from me.

I want to ask him why not but he's gone and I'm watching as the gates are dropped down and the Darkie man is pulled up to the bars.

The guard beside him nods and the barrier is lifted up.

The man is forced past the mouth and into the sun.

He screams as the light hits his eyes.

And I cry.

One of us will die and I don't know which one it will be.

And I can't decide what scares me more.

That I might die or that I'm thinking about killing one of my people.

Inside my head I know, I'm already dead.

I feel everything.

And I feel nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **

**Hello! **

**I hoped you liked it. **

**Let me know? **

**Massive hugs and peace to all.**


	8. White Knuckles

**S.M. owns all characters.**

**All mistakes are my own.**

_White Knuckles – Alter Bridge_

_Hold on for your life_

_All we feel is far from alive_

_The damned are done believing_

_The cursed can dream no more_

_So hold on for your life_

_Because only the strong survive_

* * *

><p>She sits with her back hunched and arms around her knees, the bones in her spine straining against the fabric of her tunic as she stares at the pillar in front of her.<p>

"Ali" says Rose from her bed, her body facing away from us and head buried against the wilting coils of her mattress. "Tell me a story?" her shoulders shiver as she whispers "please?"

Beside me, Alice tightens her fingers against her legs, the dirty half-moons biting into the pale skin of her calves.

"It won't have a happy ending, Rose" she mutters.

"Tell me" she whimpers and presses her face tighter against the mattress.

Alice's face tightens before she shakes her head and looks down.

"Once, not very long ago, there was a girl and she was afraid."

"Why?" mumbles Rose.

"Because she was going to die" says Alice.

I can hear as Rose sniffles and nods.

"She had been taken away from her family, and all the ones she loved to live in a stone room. And every four days she would be taken up to the sun and she would choose whether to die or to live." Alice looks up at me, her white eyes hollowed against her protruding cheek bones. "And every time, though she cursed herself, she chooses to live and she would be taken back to the stone room. Knowing deep down that every time she choose to live up in the sun, she was dying in the dark."

"Like us" cries Rose, her shoulder shaking as she muffles her tears into her arms.

"Yeah" mumbles Alice "just like us."

Breathing through her nose, she exhales "One day, a day that had nothing special about it, she decided that next time she saw the sun would be the day she died. And though terror held her, she knew that it was the only escape left." Alice looks down at her scarred arms as she speaks. "It was on that day, the day she knew all the pain would finally end, that a man came."

"He wasn't a beautiful man" she tells us "and he wasn't there to save her. The girl knew he was bad. He breathed evil as he walked up to her and took her by her arms." Tears trail against her cheeks, streaking the dirt away from her porcelain skin. My stomach twists as I look at her, my throat tightening against my breathing.

"She was so weak, she had long ago lost the fight within her and she was tired. But she knew that if she didn't fight, she would never forgive herself. No one tried to save her as he pulled her against him; they laughed as he ripped at her shirt and pulled at her pants. He was a dirty man, and she knew if he touched her, she would be dirty to, so she fought. Kicking and screaming as he laughed. Heat burned her skin as he pushed her underneath one of the candles that lit her cell. Knocking her head against the iron, she felt the wax burn her skin. Dripping along her arms and scalding her flesh.

'Fight all you want' he said to her as he laughed 'I like it.'

And then she was screaming as he attached his mouth to hers. Bolts of agony consumed her as he smashed her head against the wall once more, making her world tilt around her. It was then she grabbed the metal above her" she looks down at herself "it was so hot it melted her skin and the smoke burned her eyes. Screaming against the pain she pulled it towards her and thrust the burning candle against his face, grinding the flames against his skin."

Alice meets Jaspers eyes as he leans against the wall near the door and I watch as he flexes his charred skin "Then, it was his turn to scream."

Beside me, Rose is screaming into her bed, her shoulders heaving as sobs break in her brittle chest.

"That day, she didn't get to escape" says Alice. "Nor did she get the chance the next time. Again and again as the fourth day came and went she still lay alive in her stone cell away from the sun and freedom. And to this day, she still lies there, waiting for her day when she will be taken from the darkness and given the choice whether to live or to die."

Silence fills the spaces between us before Rose sniffles against her tears and whimpers "I didn't like that story."

"No" says Alice as she stares at the pillar again. "Neither did I."

_**xxx**_

When I look at him, I want to remember his face.

His dark hair and pale skin.

And how, as the sun grips our flesh, sweat shimmers along his forehead.

When I watch him walk towards me, I want to remember the way his eyes took in mine.

His blue tints meeting my own and reflecting the harsh light that burns the arena.

And how, as we stare at each other, understanding begins to fill them.

The way they widen before they narrow and he looks up above us.

How his body tightens against the crowd's screams as they crash over us, drowning out the sounds of my breathing.

When he moves forwards, I want to remember the way he eyed me.

His movements measuring mine.

And how, as I stood still, his steps echoed through the stadium as they began to increase.

I watch as he runs towards me, his face torn with the anger that sears his brain. A snarl tearing at his lips and ripping against the stutter of my breathing.

My heart beats against my ribs, pounding at its bone confinements as I watch him curl his fist and pull back.

I hear more than see the way the curved bones break the air, the wind whistling as it rushes towards my skin.

Pain snaps against my skull as my head whips back, my jaw wrenching and ringing through my head.

Stars burst in my vision as my leaden legs stumble underneath me, my body swaying as the world tilts and colours dance against my greying eyes.

Fighting the sickness that burrows in my stomach, I breathe through the metallic tang that taints my teeth and burns my tongue.

I can hear the screams above me, like thousands of insects, their cries bite at my skin and vibrate against my skull as they watch my lips stain crimson against the blood that drips from my limp jaw.

Agony grips me as I stumble backwards, my body trembling against the urge to drop.

The man looks at me, his face pinched as he watches my movements, his lips pressed tightly together and his shoulders heaving.

We stand so close I can see the wrinkles that ghost the skin around his eyes, like in a past life; he liked to laugh a lot.

Somewhere around us I can hear the shouts of first blood and then the buzzer rings, the sound scraping against my skin as I look at the Darkie before me.

He steps forward, his eyes following as I mirror him, moving my heavy legs backwards.

My knees shake as I step, the bones in my legs crying as I press them to move.

The Darkie grunts as his eyes narrow, the whites meeting mine as we walk farther into the arena.

Glass crunches underneath us, grinding against the broken stone and piercing the leather beneath me feet. Flares of pain wash along my senses as I step across the shards.

"What are you doing?" snaps the man, his face straining against the anger that builds along the veins in his forehead. "Fight me!" his snarls flit between us, the words clipped and venomous as they swirl with the hot wind.

I shake my head, the pain clenching my throat and wheezing my breath.

His nostrils flare as I match his step towards me, his hands clenching at his sides and the cords in his neck straining against the column of his throat.

The man moves again, and I turn, forcing my legs to move as I stumble over the metal bones beneath us. My movements are jerky and I'm tripping over my feet as I force my body to move myself away from the man behind me.

His screams chase me as I run. And my heart stumbles with my legs as I try to make myself move faster.

Sickness washes over me as I remember the moments I have spent running through the metallic skeletons. The ways I stumbled and bled along the stones underneath me as my screams rang through the arena. The ways the people chasing me died above me, their blood painting my skin as I watched the light fade from their eyes.

The sun reflects against the metal around me, thousands of sharp lights bouncing around me, burning my eyes as they meet my abused pupils.

My heart smashes against my chest, tattooing my ribs in painful beats that match the slap of my feet below me.

The cheers from the crowd fill my brain as I twist my body around a metal pipe as it attempts to slice my skin with its rusting fingers.

Grunts of anger follow me as I move through the maze around us, his footsteps matching mine.

A whistle of metal slices the air as something connects with my calves, slicing at the skin near the bend in my leg.

Fire licks up my limbs and I'm falling, the world twisting around me as the ground slams up to meet my knees.

I can feel the skin as it's torn away from my bones as I skid across the broken road. The gravel digging into the bloody aftermath of my legs as I smash against a metal post that stands against the angry sun. Flames lick against my body as my breath whooshes from my lungs and I wheeze against the pain that fills my body.

Tears blur my vision and I'm crying against the pain that paralyzes my body.

I hear the clang as the man drops the metal pipe I had avoided before and runs towards me. He slides his foot under my stomach flips me onto my back before setting his foot against my throat.

His white eyes meet mine as I cough against the pressure.

He looks down at me and I know that he's thinking it was me or him and that he wanted to live.

And I want to tell him that I don't blame him for it.

That everything I have done and everything he will do, is not our fault.

That we are nothing but a game to the people who sit above us, cheering for our blood.

And demanding we die.

And I want to tell him not to haunt himself with my face.

That I will become nothing but a body among bodies in his mind.

That I wasn't the first and won't be the last.

And I want to tell him that dying doesn't hurt as much as living.

Because at least at the end I won't remember the way blood feels once it's dried on your skin.

My body screams as I try to drag air past his foot, my lungs pleading for the oxygen.

I wrap my trembling fingers around him, the digits aching as I try to push him away. My head pounding against the weight on my throat.

There is a part of me that wishes I would just let go, feed the darkness and forget the way it feel to suffocate within myself. But my lungs plead and I'm choking against the air I try to pull into my body.

Above me, I can hear the waves of cries. The Day Walkers screaming as I jerk underneath the man.

I look up at the Darkie, my eyes meeting his as he presses down harder. Tears fill my greying vision and I feel my hands as they fall limp against the leather of his foot.

My lungs attempt to cough and I wheeze as it builds in my collapsed throat. My stomach coats my inside with acid as I watch him kill me.

I look into his eyes, watching the way they fill with determination as they stare down at my twitching body before they widen and he stumbles backwards, his hands coming up to claw at his throat.

My lungs scream as air rushes past my teeth and I gasp, choking as it pushes past my bruised neck and buries itself into the burning empties of my chest.

Wheezing, I cough as I pull oxygen past the raw passage of my throat.

Blood throbs against my skull, pounding at my eardrums as I twist my body onto my side and press my head against the heated pavement. My legs slip together as my blood stains my skin.

Ragged flesh look back at me where my thighs had once and my stomach retches and I heave against the bile that fills my throat.

Tears blur my vision as I stare at the white eyes before me.

Wide and unblinking we stare at each other.

The feathers on the tip dowel flutter in the dry wind and I close my eyes against his stare.

The sound of feet pounding fills the arena as the guards come to collect the man's body and pull me from the stadium.

Hand slip under my arms as someone heaves me to my feet and pulls me away from the dead man.

I'm dragged away from the Darkie as he's heaved up and pulled over to the mouth of the arena.

My legs are heavy and my body numb as I'm moved towards the side of arena. My jaw hangs limply and my tongue is swollen against my teeth.

My guard pushes me forwards and into the tunnel, the darkness falling over us as I'm dragged through the twisting passage.

My legs shake as I stumble forwards, my hands pressing against the stone wall to hold myself up.

I can hear the roar of the crowd as they scream, the pounding of feet thundering overhead as I'm pulled towards Prep.

Trackers voice echoes after us as he declares me the winner. His disdain for me forgotten at the sight of the blood spilled across the stone.

We move through the arched mouth and I'm hauled over to the bench and tossed down. My guard bends over, snaps the heavy manacles around my wrists, before clicking them around my ankles and stepping away from me.

My bones throb and I wilt against the stone wall behind me, my head hung as I listen to the woman move around me.

Sounds clash and bang as gossip is tossed between women and giggles fill the room.

I can hear as someone approaches me, their slipper clad feet meeting the edge of my gaze and stopping.

I can feel their eyes on me as they stand, the silence filling the space between us before they pull a stool and sit it across from me.

"I'm going to fix your jaw, Bella" says Esme, her voice soft as she sits in front of me. "It's going to hurt" she says and leans forward to touch her fingers along my limp chin, her hands cupping my skin as she tilts my head up to look into her eyes. "Just try to breath, alright?" I say nothing as she looks at me before looking at my jawline. "Breathe in" she murmurs before she thrusts the bone upwards and I gasp back a scream as it builds in my throat. She twists the bone and I can feel as it grinds back into its socket. Tears blur the world before falling across my face.

Esme murmurs as she runs her fingers along my jaw, probing the swollen skin before she nods and smiles softly at me. "There" she nods, stands up and moves away from me.

I open my mouth slightly, flinching as jolts of pain lace my jawbone and linger along my hairline.

I drop my head again and watch as the crimson stones beneath me flash with the fire light and wondering if I will ever forget staring into the dead white eyes of the man you tried to kill me.

_**xxx**_

It's a long time before someone stands above me, and smooth's a salve against my shredded thighs and when they do, they don't meet my eyes.

Around me, the women talk about the fights that are still yet to happen today. They laugh with each other at stories that they tell and whisper when they speak of someone who walks the room around them.

Not long after they had brought me in they bring in the body of the Darkie man. Dumping his body on the table farthest from me, the two guards that dragged his body grimace at his slacked head and limp neck before one men jerks the man's head over the edge of the table and holds his head straight for the other guard to grasp the butt of the arrow and thrust it farther into his neck.

My stomach lurches as the tip of the arrow break through the skin of the back of his neck and the guard tugs the body through, the light wood coming out a dark brown, stained with the life it took.

They grimace and toss the arrow into a bucket beside the table and nod to their partner signalling for him to drop his head. They move away and nod to the women who sit at their table smiling as they pass and walk out the door.

The women nod towards the door and giggle, their shoulder knocking before they look at the Darkie's body and sighing.

"At least it didn't shred the armour" the larger one says, her face pinched as she moves to look over the leather that clad that corpse on the table.

"Did you even see it?" asks the other, her voice high pitched and scrapping against my nerves.

"Came out of nowhere" says the other and eyes the stained neck of the Darkie. "Better get it off."

"You do it" says the other, shuddering "I hate touching them" her delicate nose turned up in the air as she sniffs.

"Don't be such a wimp" grumbles the other and moves to the laces on the pants "he ain't gonna touch you, he's _dead_."

"I know he dead" she snaps and looks at his cooling skin "it's just gross, what if they have a disease" she looks over her shoulder at me before lowering her voice to her work partner "you know how they live, who knows what they carry" she trembles and steps away from the body again.

"You're not sticking me with all the work" snaps the other and moves around the table to work the other set of laces.

"I'll do the washing" says the other and moves to one of the buckets under the table.

"Leave it" snaps Esme as she moves towards the two women "both of you."

"We were—" says the first one and looks at the woman at her side.

"Yes, I know you were, which is why I told you to leave it" says Esme as she moves beside the man and pushes the hair on his forehead back "Go home, you're done for the day" she waves her hand at the two of them and turns back to the man below her.

Esme sighs and slides her fingers over his blank stare, closing his lids and mumbling into the air.

She moves to the laces that the woman had undone and continues to unlace them, peeling the leather from his pale skin and gently folding the cloth, laying it on the table behind her.

Esme dips her fingers under the man's body and tips him forwards so she can unsnap the heavy armour from his back. Gently she lays him back against the table and unclips the sleeves from his arms, tugging them down and laying them with the rest of the armour.

Finally, when he lays naked on the table, his body still and cold does Esme nod to the guards that stand on either side of the door and lays a large sheet of yellowing fabric of his body. The guards move towards her as she tucks the ends of the fabric under his body and nods at them.

The body is lifted from the table and is taken towards the door of Prep.

Esme handles the pile of leather and dumps it into the bucket closest to her.

I watch as the men carry the body, and my stomach stumbles as his limp hand falls from the confines of the fabric to bounce with the guards movements.

The door slams behind the two men and I turn away from the flickering shadows that dance underneath the wood.

Then there is nothing but the sounds of Prep as women move through their days. Their voices flitting between the laughs that bounce off the stone walls and the flickers of burning candles.

The pain in my body numbs my mind and I'm drifting through the sounds of world outside my own.

I can hear as the next person if brought into the room and pushed against the benches but I don't open my eyes even when they scream and curse at the people around us.

"You taking her?" asks Ingrid, her voice close to me, above me, like she's standing looking down at my broken body.

"Not yet" says the guard and I can hear as she huffs.

"And why not?"

"Royal business" answers the guard and I can hear as he walks away, and the way Ingrid huffs before moving away from me.

The sound of manacles clashing ringing through the room the person pulls against their cuffs.

"You dead?" they ask, their voice a snap of sound through the room.

I crack my eyes and I look at the girl down the bench, my eyes sweeping over her pale and fresh face and down her tangle free black hair.

She's new and untouched.

I wonder who she will fight, and if, like me she will survive only to have wished she hadn't.

"Unfortunately" I mumble and I grimace as the burning in my legs flares as I shift against the wood beneath me.

"What happened to you?" she asks, her brows furrowing as her eyes run across my face and down my body.

"Too much" I mumble and look away from her.

"Well, shit" she mutters and I choke of the chuckle that cracks in my throat.

Silence falls between us as I lean back against the wall and press my eyes together, fighting back the nausea that threatens to drown me.

The girl clears her throat and I open my eyes to look at the women around us "I'm Emily" she says and I cock a brow.

"That's nice" I say and roll my aching shoulders.

She grunts and tugs at the metal around her limbs, clenching her jaw as she strains against the iron.

"You're wasting your energy" I mutter as I look at the ground.

"So you're saying I shouldn't even try?" she snaps, her voice rising with her anger.

I snort and shake my head "No, I'm saying that if you use all your energy you're more likely to die out there" I nod my head towards the mouth of the tunnel.

Then she's screaming, and it's vibrating against my skull.

The women around us look at her before grimacing and turning back to their work.

Esme leans over to the woman besides her, whispers and sends her through the door and out into the hall.

My head throbs and my throat tightens as her wordless screech bounces off the walls around us.

I can hear the door crash, the wood bouncing against the stone threshold as a man rushes through the arch and towards Emily.

Her cuffs are unlocked and she's pulled towards Esme stands at her table

I turn away as her tunic is pulled off her and her armour is laced and clipped into place.

I know when Esme has finished because Emily's scream becomes fainter and hiccups as she and her guard round the corner.

Then there is nothing but the question of how she will come back.

A body to be tossed on the table.

Or a body to be tossed on the bench.

Either way, she will be dead.

_**xxx**_

I stand before Esme as she unclips the sleeves and pulls them down my arms.

Standing at my side she pulls at the laces that run along my spine, tugging at the heavy chest armour and setting it on the table beside us.

Crouching beside me, she works the knot of the shorts and lets them fall to the floor, urging my feet to lift and step out of them.

Unwrapping the leather from my thighs, she stands and unclips the piece around my throat.

I fight the urge to rub the skin, imagining the colours that paint my flesh as I watch her pull my tunic from the table and slip it over my head. Her hand knocking away the guard who stand beside me, his fingers clasping my arm in place.

Helping me into my pants, she skims her fingers over the bandages that cover the shredded skin of my thighs before she steps away and untangles the braids from my head, dropping my heavy hair against my shoulders.

"She good?" asks my guard and Esme nods, her eyes scanning my face. He pulls on my arm and we're moving away from her and towards the door.

Stepping into the shadowed hall he turns me away from the hall that leads to the Compound and walks up a slopping passage, dragging my staggering body after him.

Candles dance patterns along his stern face as we walk, sharp bones in his cheeks fighting against the confines of his skin as he works his jaw.

As we move higher we pass less people, the staff dressed in shabby rags bowing their heads become fewer as I'm pulled along behind the guard, his grunts of anger when I stumble the only sound he makes.

Our steps echo through the empty halls as he pulls me down the passage and I watch as windows begin to filter light into the dingy stone route, telling me that I am back above ground.

Screams from the arena rock through the air as we travel and I squint past the burn of the sun and out into the dusty afternoon air.

Harsh greens line the horizon as I stare out over the walls of the arena and past the city beneath the looming arches of the palace.

The sun bounces against the white stones of the citadel steps and the massive granite columns that hold the heavy ridge of the towering carved roof.

The hall's slope begins to even until we are walking on flat ground again. Tightening his hold on me we round the corner, the windows decreasing again as we head inwards.

My guard stops as we round another corner and walks me through the arching doorway at the end of the hall. His hand flexing around my arm, we walk down the dark hallway towards the heavy light the fills the world.

I stop, pulling against the guard as he moves me towards the sun just beyond the darkness. He glares at me and thrusts me forwards, his eyes narrowed.

The pain that blinds me is crippling. I twist my face away from the head and bury my face against my shoulder as tears fill my vision and a whimper presses against my throat.

Around me, I can hear thousands of voice, all moving together in a wave of screams that wash over my body.

My guard tugs me forwards and I'm stumbling blindly along the stone steps of the stadium seats.

People scream at me as I move. I can hear their voices and feel their hands as they reach out and grab at my skin.

My feet stumble as I'm shepherd through the heaving bodies, some slapping at my faces, their palms striking my flesh and causing my steps to falter and my blinded body to trip.

The guard at my side pulls me up and moves me past the Day Walkers, pushing my weakening legs to move up the steps, slowly taking me higher into the air. My legs feel made of stone when he turns me to the right, pushing me down a narrow path and under an overhanging.

Looking against my eye lids I watch as the harsh oranges that had bled through die and darken as the sun's heat releases its grip on my skin.

Stopping, he thrusts me backwards and I stumble against the stone seat, my legs crumbling beneath me as I fall against the rock.

Pain wraps my tailbone and I squint at the man before me, my eyes watering as they narrow at the man as he moves to stand at the end of the row; his hands behind his back and face towards the arena below.

Thunders of cries wrap ricochet against the air as I look out over the people.

Thousands of bodies push against each other as they jump up and scream at the action below. Following the curve of the arena I sweep my eyes over the half-moon of seating that's over following with pushing bodies.

Tracing the arc of stone, I look over the bare wall opposite me across the rounded stadium, watching as the sun lights the towering barricade and thrusting its shadow over the small metal bodies that fill the area within it.

Beyond the wall I can see the city below us. Thousands of stark white roofs reflect the sun as it bounces through the twisting streets before they break away and I can see the emptiness of the city square and the massive fountain that sprays into the air, lighting the sky like diamonds as the drops fall through the air.

"We have the best view" says a voice above me and my spine tightens. "You will see things people normally miss" they promise as they laugh and I clench my fists at my sides.

The wind whips hot through the seats and I gag at the stenches that filter through the air. Decay hangs heavy in the hot sun and I fight the bile that churns in my stomach.

"I didn't want you to miss _anything_" they say and laugh again, their fingers scrapping against the stone throne beneath them.

Below us, I can hear the scream that escapes the arena. The sound echoing as it's torn from her bleeding lips.

I watch as she pulls her body backwards, tugging at her limp legs as she tries to escape her tormenter. His steps match her frantic movements, his shoulders heaving as he looks down at her shaking form. His hair is long and braided down his back, a heavy black rope against the darkness of his skin.

I curl my fingers along the curve of the seat as I turn my eyes away from her face, not wanting to remember from the terror she is now.

I can hear as he snaps his fingers and someone's fingers reach out to curl under my jaw, twisting my face back to the scene below and holding my face in place.

"Now, Bella," he says, his voice closer as he leans forward and whispers his hot breath against my neck. "How are you going to make it through the main entertainment if you can't even watch the preshow?" Edward's father brushes his fingers down my spine and I jerk away from him.

The guard's fingers tighten, cutting his nails into my skin as he thrusts me back into my spot.

"Watch" he whispers against my ear before leaning back and resting against the stone behind him.

My heart wrenches in my chest as I watch Emily scream underneath the Day Walker. Her legs kicking out beneath him, trying to him purchase in his heavy thighs as she twists against his hold.

Her elbow slips free and clips his nose, the bone wrenching to the side and releasing a torrent. His scream mixes with hers as he paints her face red.

I watch as he pulls pack his hand and slaps it against her face, whipping her head to the side and breaking the skin along her eyebrow.

Emily screams again, her eyes wide as she looks up at him, her head twisting as he reaches into his pants and pulls a short blade from the leather confines.

My hands clench at my sides and I jerk against the guard who holds me.

Anger burns my stomach as I pull at the flesh restraints that keep me prisoner high up in the stands.

Her name slips from my lips as I look down at her small body.

My words are lost in the sea of screams that accompany mine in the air, swallowing my fear within their lust for her blood.

Behind me, Edward's father laughs "Oh dear, did you know her?"

I scream against my bonds, my arms throbbing as I twist against the second guard that grips my shoulders.

"Such a shame" he says as Emily's screams wane with her tears.

The Day Walker leans over her face, the hilt of the knife grasped in his hand as he sinks the tip of the blade into the soft skin of his cheek. Dragging it down, he lines her skin with a ragged red line before pulling it out and repeating until a bloody M mars the side of her face.

I can see the smile that pulls his lips as he looks down at his work, his finger running over the torn flesh of her cheek, tracing the letter across her shredded face.

Emily presses her hands against his shoulders as she cries, screams barely escaping her stuttering lips as her pain begins to paralyze her body.

Then, after looking at her face for another moment he slashes his hand across her throat, the serrated blade catching on her skin and tearing it away from her body.

I can hear the way her lungs gurgle as she drowns in her blood. Air catches in the broken skin and she coughs against the blood that fills her throat. I watch her chest as it heaves, her legs jerking underneath the heavy body of the man above her.

Then there is nothing.

And she is gone.

The man roars, his hands thrust above his head as he stands and turns to the look at the crowd above him.

Cries fill the air, screams ricocheting through my brain as I look at the small body of the girl.

Tracker announces him the winner and he walks out of the arena, passing the guards that run through the mouth of the tunnel and grab the broken body that lies on the concrete.

"Well" says Edward's father behind me "That was a tad disappointing, don't you think?"

I clench my jaw against the urge to rip away from the hands that hold me and wrap my fingers around his throat.

"Nowhere near as beautiful as your fights, my dear" he says and leans forward. "You are a true sight to behold."

"You're sick" I whisper and the guard who holds my face releases me to slap his open palm against my cheek. My head whips to the side and I gasp as the pain works its way through my jaw.

"Watch your mouth little girl" snaps the guard at my side.

I can taste the metallic taint that stains my mouth as my teeth release my tongue.

Edward's father chuckles "That's quite alright Sam" I can hear as he opens his mouth to protest but Edward's father snaps his fingers and says "Leave us; I have much to discuss with our guest."

Sam and the other guard stand and move to stand at the stairs, their backs to us and their eyes watching the people that scream around us.

I can hear the rustle of fabric as Edward's father shifts in his seat "Come here" he says.

I want to ignore him.

To forget he sits behind me, high upon his throne looking down at the massacres below him but I know that if I do not move myself, someone will do it for me.

My bones creak as I stand, my knees weak under my body as I turn and step up onto my seat and over to the one that sits beside him.

Setting myself as far away from him as I can, I sit on the edge, my eyes staring down at the arena below us.

I can smell the stench of rotting fruit from the folds of his robes as he rearranges himself in his seat.

"Watching you this morning, I must say, I was disappointed with the outcome."

I clench my hands to my sides as I stare out away from him, saying nothing.

"You see my dear, my gift to you was for you to test your limits, not to have someone execute the man while you lay there letting him kill you."

Edward's father traces the side of my face with his eyes "I had hoped you would come to understand your place today" he sighs. "But it seems you have instead lost sight of why you are here."

I twist my palms against the stone beneath me. "Perhaps, you need a reminder?" he asks and I look at him, my eyes narrowing as he smiles.

He nods towards the stadium below us and his grin widens as the screams fill the space around us.

The dread that curls through my system as I turn my head is something I will never forget. It twists my stomach and warps my lungs as I look down at the tiny woman who walks across the arena.

"I want you to remember this moment" he whispers to me, his sick breath washing over my face "because this is the moment I break you" he laughs as he pulls away and flicks his hand in the air.

Looking down at Alice as she moves towards the man who stands in the middle of the stadium a part of me knows what will happen.

I watch the dying sun as it reflects against the thousands of tiny glass shards that light the ground, filling the area with tiny tinkles of daytime stars.

The man across from her stands with his hands at his side, his face blank as he watches her move. Hulking shoulders wrapped in coils of leather stand tightened against the heat of the fading day.

Stopping, she looks at the man in front of her, her hands clenched at her sides as her eyes sweep over the glints of metal that line the cuffs around his wrists.

Like every Day Walker that enters that arena the small blades that line the inside of the wrist bands gleam in the setting sun and reflect back at their opponent.

Running his fingers along the blades a smile curls his thin lips, pulling them up like scars marring his stone face.

It happens to fast for my eyes to catch it.

One moment they stand facing each other, the next Alice lies on the ground, her back towards the crowd and the Day Walker is lowering his hand as he moves towards her.

I watch as she thrusts her hands under her body and pushes herself up. Launching to the side, her knees knock against the stones beneath her before she's on her feet and running towards the side of arena.

Behind her, the man growls and his feet match the pounding of hers, his fingers slipping the second blade from the sheath along his palm.

Dodging to the right, Alice lunges forwards, his fingers wrapping around the thin hilt of the blade that protrudes from the ground and turns on the balls of her feet to face the man who smashes his body into hers.

They fall hard.

Skidding backwards, Alice's head connects with the ground with a sharp crack, the back of her skull ricocheting back against the air and falling again.

The man lifts his head to look down at her eyes, a smile breaking across his face again as he twists the hilt of the blade deeper into her chest.

Alice looks back at him, her cracked lips spreading as she meets his eyes, her torso heaving against the metal that protrudes from between the bones in her ribcage.

Screams mirror mine as they flow over the man below us.

My throat clenches and I'm choking against the pain that lines my chest.

The man screams, his arm thrown towards the air like the man before him, his head thrown back against the last of the days heat.

I can hear as she begins to laugh, the sound broken between her gasps as the man's eyes widen, the roar of his victory stuttering in his lungs. Thrusting her hand forwards, she twists her arm against his body.

The man stops, his brow pulled together in confusion as he pushes his body up to look at down at his stomach.

As he inhales the tip of the handle moves within his skin, the pressure of breathing forcing the end out from his flesh.

Slowly he reaches across his stomach and grips the end of the handle and pulls it from his body. A screams leaking from his lips as the blade follows the bone handle. Dropping it, it clangs against the stones of the ground as he look at the gaping wound in his abdomen, his blood staining the leather around his body black.

He looks back at Alice as she laughs, her white teeth stained pink in the dying light.

"If I go" she wheezes, her voice echoing through the stadium "you're going with me."

Around me, I can hear the crowds breathing, the sounds of their confusion ringing through the arena as they look down at the fight below.

The man clutches his stomach as he stumbles off of her body, his legs crumbling under his weight and he slumps against a ragged cut of boulders, his heavy body leaning against the heated surfaces.

Gasping, he stares up at the sun, his hands pressed against the hole in his skin, the blood weaving between his fingers as his heart pumps it from his body.

Gasps of laughter slip past her lips, gurgling as it passes her tongue and fading in the air above her. I watch as the light in her eyes slowly fades as her white eyes stare up at the blood orange of the dying day.

I can hear as he chokes, his body heaving against the torn skin of his body.

I can hear as she coughs, the blood escaping her lips and painting her pale skin.

Then silence.

And I can't hear anything at all.

Beside me, Edward's father's hands slap together, the sound echoing over the hushed viewers below us and vibrating within my head.

My stomach heaves as I look down at the bodies, their unseeing eyes watching as the sun slips away and darkness begins to cloud over us.

_**xxx**_

I'm not walking on my own.

His hands wrap under my arms as I'm towed through the gloomy halls towards the Compound.

My brain is fogged as I watch the candles flicker terror filled faces against the stone walls.

Sam knocks on the door and I can hear the locks as they snap and the door creaks open.

Forcing me through, he nods to Emmett as he drags me past the haunted white eyes that follow our movements.

Slamming his fist against Doc's door, he twists the knob and thrusts me through before him and walks me over to the exam table.

"And what can I do for you on this fine evening?" he asks, his back to us as he leans over his desk.

"Check her" grunts Sam as he moves away from me to lean against the wall beside the door.

Doc lifts his head and looks from me to the guard and nods.

"You may leave" he waves his hand as he moves towards me.

"I don't think that's a good idea" he says as he eyes the doc.

"I didn't ask if you thought it was good idea" says Doc, his eyes running over the supplies that line the cart beside him "I told you to leave."

Sam's eyes narrow as he watches Doc move through the room.

"If you must, you can wait outside the door" sighs Doc as he looks up at the guard.

Their eyes hold before Sam nods and moves to the door "I'll be just outside" he says and Doc nods as he turns away from him.

"Very well."

I watch the door clang against its frame as Doc moves through the room, his head bowed as he collects the large bottle of disinfectant, setting it on the tray beside the exam table.

Above me, wind whistles through the open window, filling the room with the scent of decaying flesh and dust.

I turn my head to look up at it and back to the Doc.

"Sit" he tells me, nodding towards the table as he pulls the stool in front of me "What happened?"

I pull myself up onto the wood and look down at his head, the candles flashing through the blonde strands.

"I fell" I mutter as he pulls up the loose fabric of my pants to expose the bandaged flesh.

"I can see that" he says as he unwraps the dressings to look at the torn skin beneath.

Muttering to himself he turns and grabs a small jar of clear jell. Twisting the cap, he dips his fingers in and smooth's the salve against my raw skin before cutting new bindings and rewrapping my skin, repeating the process on my other leg.

Finishing, he whips his hands on a towel that lays across his lap and looks at my face. Running his fingers over the discolouration, he probes the tender skin causing tears the prickle in my eyes.

"And this?"

I shrug "I fell against a fist."

Doc sighs but nods as he tells me to breathe in as his fingers run along my ribs.

Nodding to himself he looks at me "Nothing seems to be broken."

He pushes himself up and moves towards his desk, flipping through the papers on the top of it.

"You're all set."

I curl my fingers around the heavy neck of the bottle at my side.

"Thank you Doctor" I murmur as I push myself off the table and move towards him.

"Of course, Bella" he says his back to me "Perhaps the next time I see you, it won't be to patch you up" he chuckles.

"Perhaps" I muse and step behind him.

I raise the bottle to the side as he turns to look at me.

His eyes follow my arm up before they widen.

"I'm afraid I have to leave now, Doctor" I mutter as his eyes meet mine.

His mouth opens as the bottle connects with the side of his head, his eyes rolling up into his skull as he sways before dropping to the floor in a heap.

Quickly, I set the bottle onto the desk and tug the heavy wood across the floor, the legs scrapping across the stones as I shove it against the door.

Stepping away, I move over to the exam table and grab the stool, propping it on top against the wall underneath the window.

Climbing up, I step onto the wrong that holds the four legs of the chair together, digging my fingers into the grooves of the wall as I press my knee against the seat of the stool.

Pulling myself up, I ease my body so I'm standing, the wood beneath me shaking with my legs.

Looking up, I wrap my fingers around the ledge of the window, the bones in my hands aching as I heave myself up.

Behind me I can hear Sam as he calls out to Doc and his grunt as he pushes against the door.

Biting back the scream that fills my throat, I dig my toes into the wall and wrench my body over the ledge, the stone cutting against my stomach.

Looking down at the small drop outside, I twist my body so I'm sitting in the window, pulling my legs up against my body and crouching as I turn my body outwards.

I can hear as the door whines against the shoves of the men behind it, the hinges screaming as they force it against the heavy desk.

Breathing through my nose, I look down below me, counting in my head before curling my fingers around the edge and thrusting my body into the night sky.

For a moment, I'm airborne, my stomach flipping as my body cuts the air before my feet slam against the stone road below, the impact vibrating through the soles of my feet and numbing the bones in my legs.

I stumble as I land and my knees protest against movements as I push my body to move.

I can hear the shouts from the window above me as I veer to the left and fling my body into the empty streets of the Day Walkers city.

My feet slap the stones beneath me, my heart pounding with my pulse as my lungs scream for me to breathe.

Following the twisting roads between the homes, I press my body to the shadows that fill the passages.

Somewhere through the city I can hear the shouts of the guards as I weave past the fading candle light that fills the windows of the people above me.

Turning I enter the city square, my feet echoing through the empty space as I run past the towering fountain. Water mists the air and clings to my skin as I move away from the open area and back into the shadows of the cities back alleys.

A siren wails through the air as I break through the last of the houses.

The sound echoing against the stone buildings and following me as I push past the thick reeds that block my path, their sharp bodies whipping against my skin as I thrust my body through their maze.

I can hear the harsh slap of feet behind me, their shouts of order chasing me as I move.

Pushing past, I force my legs to run against the thicket, my chest aching as I try to drag air into my aching lungs.

The lights of torches bleed through the darkness as I break through and stumble into the forest.

Catching my feet on the roots of a tree my legs crumble and I crash against the ground.

Shaking out the stinging in my palms I look over my shoulder at the bodies that move through the stalks behind me. Forcing myself up I push my body deeper into the darkness around me.

Running, I turn my head to watch the men as they make their way into the forest, their lights thrust into the air as they squint into the blackness.

Breathing against the cramps that line my stomach I turn and run into a thick wall of heated flesh.

The scream that builds in my throat muffled against the hand that's placed across my mouth.

I struggle, my arms smacking against the body in front of me.

"Stop" they whisper, their breathe dancing against my neck.

My legs kick against my captors and he grunts.

Growling, he slips an arm around my waist and hauls me behind a thick tree, resting his back against the rigged bark.

"You need to stop or they're going to hear you" he hisses as he leans close to my ear, his lips brushing my hair.

My heart stutters against my ribs, beating at the bones that hold it in place and I struggle to breathe against Edward's hand, my arms dropping to my sides and my body sags.

Beyond us, I can hear the shouts of the guards and the flicker of their flames as they move away from us.

"If I remove my hand, are you going to scream?" he whispers and I shake my head.

Sighing, he drops it away from my mouth and I gasp at the air around us.

Silence falls around us as the guards move farther away from us. Clamping my mouth shut against the thundering of my breaths, I drag air through my nose. Finally, when I no longer see the weaving lights, I turn to look at him, my eyes narrowing at his face. "What is with you and manhandling me?" I snap as I jerk away from him.

Edward looks down at me, his brow furrowed "You're welcome."

"I didn't say thank you" I mutter.

"I know" he says and I frown.

I glare at him, my eyes taking in the little details I don't see in the light, I fold my arms over my chest and say "What are you doing here?" Edward opens his mouth to speak but I hold up my hand. "Never mind, don't answer that, just go back to where you came and leave me alone."

"I can't do that" he says and I narrow my eyes at him.

"If you think for a second I'm gonna go back without a fight you are sadly mistaken."

Edward looks at me before shaking his head "I'm not going to take you back."

I narrow my eyes at him "And why would I believe anything you say?"

He shrugs and crosses his arms over his chest "If I wanted to take you back, I would have done it already."

I growl under my breath before turning on my heels and stomping through the forest. "So what, you wanted to say goodbye?" I wave my hand over my shoulder "Bye."

Edward's steps mirror mine as he pushes off the tree to move beside me "I'm going with you."

I snort "So you can take more of my people and murder them? I don't think so."

A hand wraps around my wrist and jerks me around to stare at him. "I'm serious" he says.

"So am I" I pull away from him "why on this green earth would I willingly agree to travel with you after you kidnapped me and murdered my people?"

My throat tightens as memories of the ruins fill me. "I don't have an answer to that" he says and I look up at him.

"No" I say "you wouldn't." I turn away from him and continue walking "Leave me alone, Edward."

I step over the roots that line the floor beneath my feet, the silence eating at my nerves.

"Did you want to die?" he asks his voice soft through the dense woods.

I stop and look over my shoulder "What?"

"In the arena" he says, stepping towards me "did you want to die? Is that why you just laid there?"

A part of me wants to lie and say that I didn't.

That I'm strong and that I was bidding my time.

I want lie and tell him that I not broken.

That I haven't crumbled under the deaths and lost myself somewhere in my head.

But as I look at him, his eyes so unlike his fathers I find myself nodding.

His lips press together as he hoists the quiver on his back higher.

"I told you not to die" he says, his eyes finding mine in the dark. "I couldn't just let you die."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: thank you so much for reading. **

**please, please, review! ****As you can see, I am not above begging! **

**Massive hugs and peace to all.**

**Find the _Day Walkers _playlist on: /greentreetall/day-walkers**


	9. Running Up That Hill

**S.M. own all characters.**

**All mistakes are my own.**

_Running Up That Hill - Placebo_

_You don't want to hurt me,  
>But see how deep the bullet lies.<br>Unaware that I'm tearing you asunder.  
>There is thunder in our hearts, baby.<br>So much hate for the ones we love?  
>Tell me, we both matter, don't we?<em>

It's hot.

So hot.

The heat swirls around my body, the smells of rot and excrement burrowing into my skin.

My lungs burn and my throat throbs as my stomach heaves bile against my tongue.

Gnarled branches groan above me as I weave through the thick foliage, the ground sucking at the soles of my feet as I wrench my limbs from the sodden forest floor.

Behind me, I can hear them.

Him.

Hear the sounds of metal shifting and cocking.

Hear the way the iron rubs and moves as the bullet is forced into the barrel.

So close, I can feel them.

Feel the roaring crack of a shot ignited from steel.

Feel the sharp whistle as it burns across my cheek and the crunch of impact against the heavy tree next to me.

The wood blooms in a splintered flower around the invading metal as the trunk shudders with the force.

My feet jerk against the sucking woodland, clutching at my skin as solid ground disappears.

A sick sludge wraps around my legs as my body meets the water. Drowning my screams, my face smacks the bog, filling my nostrils with decay and choking on the swamp filling my throat.

Emptiness stuffs my ears, filling my brain with the ringing of white noise.

Mud swirls around my head as I wrench my face from the sucking water.

Gasping, I pull my arms from the mud, my body stiff with the fear that weighs my bones.

I want to look behind me, want to see their faces as they come.

But I can't.

Won't.

Spitting against the mud that dyes my teeth, I drag my body into deeper everglade, the thick water gripping at my clothes.

The buzz of insects fills my ears as I pull myself through the heavy foliage. Their sharp bites stinging against the burns that scorch my skin.

I heave air as I move, my knees shaking as the heat presses down on me.

"Run, run, run" the words follow me as I dig my fingers in, hitting solid ground.

Pulling myself up, my arms buckle under my weight and my shoulders collide heavily with the creeping vines. Biting back my screams, I press my cheek into the greenery and drag my body from the sucking water, collapsing against the heavy heated air.

"Get up" I mumble as I lay immobile, my body shuddering with each breath.

I can hear their shouts, their thundering feet.

Someone gives a sharp whistle and the sound of gurgling barks wrap around my throat.

"Now," I grit.

Shoving my shaking arms under me, I press my elbows up, grunting as I push my knees up.

My legs wobble as I take another step and my head swims with the movement.

The sounds of splashes sends my heart stuttering as I push my body to move.

The crack of another shot whips through the air and I twist my body deeper into the sweeping trees.

Weaved branched bring the relief from the sun as the thick twisted woods block out the heat.

My retinas ache against the sudden change and light flashes behind my lids with each blink of my abused eyes.

The ground tilts with a slope and I can feel the mud, slick with humidity and rain, making my legs vibrates with the effort to stay upright.

My feet stumble and I bite back the screams that fill my throat as my legs slip out from underneath me.

The world tilts around me as I slip down the hill. My body smacks the ground with a wet slap and my bones thrum with the impact.

The flap of wings beat with my thundering heart as they give off sharp squawks of protest.

Wheezing past the pain that builds along my spine, I blink past the fading sunlight, my eyes water as I watch the rays shimmer against the rustling branches above me.

Trying to draw in air, my body retches against the smell of rot. Decay and putrid acidity lace my tongue and my stomach twists into itself.

My shoulders shift against the sharp rocks under me and I twist my head.

Empty sockets meet mine as I open my mouth the match the lipless scream of the body before me.

Slapping a hand against my teeth I scream into my palm.

Bones crunch under me and I choke on my tongue.

Black wings bring shadows over me as it lands next the freshest dump.

The stomach has expanded and bloated twice its normal size under the sun, the sharp white skin lined in pale blue lines.

The birds beak pecks at the lose skin of her cheek and I can feel the burn as tears blur her faceless skull.

The grave expands around me, enclosing me in decomposed flesh and liquefied human.

"The dogs got her!" someone shouts and I don't want to move anymore.

I just it to be over.

Done.

I'm done.

I turn my head and watch the birds feast on what's left of a young Darkie woman.

Me next?

Will I feed their hunger next?

Will they kill me here or bring me back for all to watch?

I close my eyes and press my body deeper into the thick sludge around my skin. Bone shards scrape my arms as I dig under the remnants of long decomposed skeletons.

The sun has heated the bodies, rushing the breakdown and warming the grave.

Liquid wraps around my throat.

Around my chin.

Lips.

I squeeze my eyes against my tears and let the body next to me fall over my face.

Insects tumble from the open cavity in the chest and begin their slow crawl across my face, I fight the twitches in my fingers as their legs prick my skin.

I try to slow my breathing; try to press against the terror that chokes my body as I listen for the heavy footsteps that trample down the incline.

Dogs pant and heave, their nose pressed against the ground and their heavy jowls salivating.

The birds scatter as they near, their angry shrieks echoing through the grave.

"Damn birds" one of them mutters "Spread out" they call. "She's here somewhere."

Curses follow the orders as feet move around the each of the pool.

"Holy fuck" someone swear, their voice muffled as they cough.

The dogs' noses stay planted as they move around the bodies, their snuffling all I can hear.

"This is fucking ridiculous" someone says from my left, the toes of their boots brushing the edge of the pool. "She ain't fucking here." He leans over me and twists the tip of a stick into the empty socket of the skull. "Someone call Edward, let him know the dogs were a bust."

The men around me mumble their agreements before hauling the dogs back up the hill.

My body, drawn so tightly, sags and the sobs I held in shake my body.

I try to keep quiet, my tears running silently from eyes, listening to the emptiness of the now still forest.

When my body simply won't give up any more liquid to tears, I know I should move.

But I don't.

_**xxx**_

_It's hot. _

_So hot. _

_I pry eyes open to stare into the small fire that burns at my side, making my skin stick together. _

"_You're awake" he mutters from beyond the flames. _

"_I'm still alive" I observe and twist the cracks from my bones. _

_He presses his lips together and turns back to the small stone arrowhead in his hands. "I'm not going to hurt you."_

_I snort and push to my feet, not bothering to answer him. _

"_I should get going; need to cover more ground before morning."_

_Edward nods and swings his bow over his chest, bending he grabs a torch from the fire before stubbing out the rest with the toe of his boot._

"_So you're still set on coming then?" I raise a brow when he nods. _

_Grinding my teeth, I turn and move ahead of the small glow the fire casts and sweeping aside the hanging branches and step into the darkness of the forest._

_As my eyes adjust to the welcome darkness I watch the small lives that live in night scurry along the twisting roots. _

_Small rodents' dash through the shadows that moon is bleeding through the trees. Their small tails swishing against the tall grass and thick moss before diving into holes at the base of sagging trees. _

_Insects twang sharp harmonic sounds as the nocturnal birds sweep through the trees. _

_Edward's steps follow mine, bringing the light of his flame and the quietness of the now still night. _

_I sigh and move forward, my body aching and head thumping with my feet. _

"_You have any idea where you're going?" he asks behind me. _

_I grit my teeth and I stare ahead. "Yes."_

"_You sure?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Seems to me you're making it up as you go," I can hear a smile in his voice_

"_Good thing no one asked you," I mutter. _

_I can hear him as he sighs behind me. "Come one, Bella, I can help you, I know this forest." _

"_Like you helped me before, hm?"_

"_I saved your life" he grits and I stop to look at him._

"_Some life" I mutter and step over the decaying body of an old fall tree. _

"_You should be more thankful," he mutters and I freeze. "You're alive because of me." _

_The laugh that escapes my chest doesn't sound human._

"_So that makes you saintly now? You saved my life so I'm forever in your debt, is that it?" I turn to meet his eyes. "If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have needed saving" I spit at him. _

_His shoulder sag and his eyes flick from mine. _

"_What do you want me to say, Bella? That I'm sorry?"_

_I scoff "I don't want your pathetic apologies. Save them for someone who cares."_

_He shakes his head at the ground and I nod "I'd rather you not speak to me anymore" I say and turn forward to start walking again. _

_We don't speak again until the sun begins its struggle to come up from behind the trees. _

"_We should camp here" he mutters and I look around the small open area between the two walls of dense forest. "Here"._

_I look down at the small loaf of bread in his outstretched hand. _

"_Take it, Bella. You need to eat."_

_Tentatively I take it in my hands and hold it to my chest, mumbling my thanks._

_He nods and takes one out for himself and sits with his back against a fallen log. _

_I lean my back against the tree farthest from where he drops to the ground and watch the dawn fade to an angry sun. _

_The sharp shout of voices brings my foggy brain from sleep with a jolt. My head jerks upwards the painful cramps of sleeping slumped to the side pull at my nerves. _

_I turn to look at the empty spot across from me and my heart invades my throat. _

_I push my body up and away from the tree and turn in a circle. _

_They cock their guns._

_They laugh at their jokes. _

_They move closer. _

_I shake my head. _

_Should have known. _

_Stupid. _

_I look towards the voices._

_Run. _

_**xxx**_

My ears are filled, I can't hear anything.

Silence fills my head and I lay still, the twitches in my muscles vibrating in my limbs.

The pool around me has gone cold with the setting sun and my toes have gone numb.

When someone wraps their hand around my shoulder and under my arm I can't jerk away.

Fingers dig into my skin and pull my body from underneath the dead one.

The cold air of the night wraps around my wet body, the tunic hang limply and heavy around my numb frame.

"Well, well" rumbles a heavy voice as my legs dangle helplessly above the ground. "What we got here?"

Crooked yellow teeth shine at me in the growing moonlight, the hair growing on his face wild and filed with small crawling bugs.

The scream builds in my throat is tampered before it can even work its way across my tongue when a large hand clamps down over the lower half of my face and the man clicks his tongue.

"None of that screeching, girl. We don't want none of those dogs hearin' ya."

I try to jerk my body from his grasp, my useless arms flopping at my sides as I dangle in the mountain man's hand.

His chuckle vibrates through his grasp and he sets me on the ground, his hand on my shoulder when my feet refuse to carry me.

The man holds me away from him and looks me up and down. "Not much of ya there is there? Ya got a name?"

My head lulls to the side and my mouth feels full of cotton. My tongue is heavy against my teeth as I try to swallow past the bile that layers my taste buds.

"We need to dunk ya in the river, girl, you smell worse than death," he chuckles and hauls me away from the bodies of my people.

I think I protest, my lips move, but I'm not sure if sound leaves them.

"I ain't gonna kill ya, girl," he mutters ahead of me, his long braid of black hair swing down the expanse of his wide back.

I watch as we move deeper into the woods, my feet kicking and stumbling behind me as he pulls ahead. Grunting, he sweeps me up and over his shoulder, coughing off to the side and keeping his face from my dripping clothes.

"Sue ain't gonna let me any-damn-where near her smellin' like this," he grumbles and hikes me higher up on his shoulder.

I don't stay conscious for long.

_**xxx**_

I inhale water through my nose.

I bolt upright, coughing and gagging against the frigid temperate.

"Rise and shine, girl!" the man hollers as he laughs and ducks my head under the water again.

I push against his massive palm and sit up, my body shaking and my hair dripping in my eyes.

"We gotta get that smell off ya or you'll be spending a night with the hogs." He chuckles at his jokes before gripping the ends of my tunic and tugging it over my head and dropping it on the bank of the river with a look of disgust.

Wrapping my arms around my chest, I use my legs to push my body away from the man and deeper into the swift moving water.

Looking at me scuttling away he scoffs and shakes his head.

"Don't flatter ya-self girl, you got nothing on my wife."

Frowning, I look down the bones of my ribs as they protrude from the skin of my chest. My hips are pointy and my knees knobby.

Looking away, I look back at the large man who's pants, a dark brown, are handmade and his off white shirt that laces up the front bares the marks of having carried my deadweight from the mass grave.

"Who are you?" I croak and he smiles.

"She speaks!" He throws his hands in the air and sets his large body on the bank. "I was beginning to think ya were mute or something."

I shrug and look around us, the trees lean heavily on the weakening sandy banks, their heavy branches brushing the water as it speeds by.

"Where are we?" my voice is hoarse, my throat dry and cracking.

"Take a drink" he nods to the water. "It's safe."

I eye him as he watches me before he sighs and cups his hand in the water and brings it to his mouth and drinks. "See? I ain't keeling over. Geez, girl, if I wanted to girl ya, I wouldn't use damn water," he scoffs and whips his wet hands on his knees.

I look down at my stained hands and scrub at the crusted filth that lives under my nails before bringing my hands up to my mouth and drinking, the cool liquid settling the fire in my throat.

"Better?"

I nod and take another.

We sit in silence for a while, me drinking and scrubbing at my skin, him with his head tilted to the sun overhead.

"How long you been out there, you look bout fired to a crisp?"

I shrug and lean the length of my hair into the water and scrub at the end.

"A while."

"You running from something?"

My back straightens and I meet his eyes.

"Or is it someone?" His eyes rack over the scars that line the flayed skin of my body and he nods and stands.

I eye him as he moves, my fingers combing out the knots that fill my hair.

"Come on, girl" he motions me with his hand. "We better get going before your friends come back." He stands and slips on his boots over sandy feet. "Come meet my wife. She'll get something on ya and get some food in ya, don't look like you had neither in a while."

I stay where I am in the middle of the water and watch as his hands tuck in the pockets of his pants, he rocks back and forth on his heels..

"Look, thanks for everything you've done for me," I mutter. "But it's probably best if we part ways now."

Mountain Man laughs and shakes his head. "What's wrong wit that head of yours, girl? You ain't much more than a leaf, how you supposed to survive when you can barely lift your own head?" He shakes his own head, muttering about something. "Get on out of the water and walk with me, or I'll carry you, either way, you're comin' and you can thank me later."

When I don't move he come to me. His long legs bringing him to me before I can pull myself through the water.

Strong hands scoop under my stomach and haul my up and over his shoulder again. I pull at his hold, my hands slapping at his back.

"Put me down" my voice echoes as he walks us out of the water and back into the woods. The night's coolness raising bumps on my skin.

"Quit your hollering, you wanna wake the whole dang forest?" he shakes his head, ignoring my protests and jerks of my body as I try and dislodge myself from his grip.

Walking with ease, even with my added weight, Mountain Man hums to himself, skipping over pulled roots and fallen logs.

Weaving through the dense foliage, we break through a thick wall and face the back side of a small wooden house.

Light flickers through the thin curtains that cover the one window that faces the forest and we move silently around the side.

The door swings open as we around the corner, the wooden frame vibrating with the smack of the handle.

"Where the hell have you been?" the voice snaps out and the shoulder beneath my stomach stiffens. "You think I like waiting around here like some sad little house wife, while you're out gallivanting in the woods?"

Mountain Man takes a step forwards and stretches out his empty hand. "No" she grunts and smacks it away. "Not only are you late for dinner but you brought home a stray?" she growls and walks around him and eyes me.

Small and curved, the woman has her long hair braided around her head in a golden halo. Scars run the length of both cheeks. "We can't afford to keep feeding all these sad cases you keep bringing home, Billy." She moves closer to me and grabs and my chin.

Bringing her whited eyes down to meet my own and pressing her lips tightly together. "Shit" she snaps and whirls back in front of him.

Mountain Man lowers me to the ground, his hand dropping down on my shoulder and keeping me steady and put. "I couldn't just leave her, Sue, they were chasing her with dogs."

"Damn it, Billy." She folds her arms in front of her chest, a scowl pulling at tips of her red mouth,

"She needed my help" he says and moves both of us closer to the house. "She needs our help."

Sue glares at the both of us before sighing again and drops her arms. "Get her inside."

Wrapping his free hand around the back of her neck he pulls her up to capture her still frowning mouth in a sloppy kiss. He hums and shakes his head making her laugh and pull away, slapping his chest and rolling her eyes.

"I still don't forgive you" she huffs and moves over the threshold.

Billy follows behind her with his goofy smile pasted on his bushy face, tugging me with him.

The house is small with no actual rooms. The kitchen takes up the most room, with a large wooden table and chairs around it to the right of the door. A small wood burning stove sits farthest away from the door with a large pot sitting on top of it, its lid askew and steam pouring over the lip. Candles stand at the table in a small cluster of uneven stubs of wax.

A large double bed sits off to the side in the far left corner with a matching couch and chair set near the door.

I stand at the door and watch as Billy moves around me and sits in the chair at the head of the table and tips his head back.

Sue grabs a spoon and pulls the lid from the pot, stirring its contents she grabs two bowls and fills them both.

The smell of meat and vegetables fills the small cabin and makes my stomach quiver.

"Sit" she instruct, turning away from the table and moves toward the small set of drawers at the end of the bed. "I'm sure there's something here" she pulls out a small grey tunic and nods to herself before turning to me and dropping it in my lap. "Put that on."

I rub my fingers over the worn fabric and pull it over my head. It hangs around my boney frame and I hug my stomach.

Dropping to sit on his lap, Sue nods to the bowl in front of me. "Eat."

I eye the hand craved wooden spoon that sits in the steaming liquid and look up at them.

Billy nods, smiling as he spoons his own food into his mouth.

I bring it to my mouth and close my lips around it, humming as the taste of rabbit and carrots explodes on my tongue. I shovel more in until I look down and find I emptied the bowl with my stomach still growling.

Shaking her head Sue stands and refills it, setting it in front of me again. "Eat slowly or you'll get sick."

I nod and try to slow my chewing.

This time when the bowl is empty, my stomach stays quiet.

The couple at the end of the table stare at me and I wait for the questions I know they have.

Billy clears his throat and pushes his own bowl away from him.

"So, you got a name, girl?"

I shrug my shoulders and fiddle with the frayed edges of my tunic.

"A name ain't important, Billy" Sue smacks the back of his and shakes her head. "Where they take you from?"

I chew on my lips "Dark City."

Sue nods and blows out a breath.

"How'd you escape?" she asks.

"Doc's" I mutter and look down at the worn table.

"Smart" she comments and I shrug. "How many times did you fight?"

My shoulders tense and the nail I had been scratching at the table with breaks.

"I don't know" I mumble and look down into my lap.

"I think my numbers only around ten," she says and taps her lips. "Was it more than that?"

I push my chair back and stand, my shoulders shaking under the strain.

"Thank you for all your help, but I think it's time I go."

Billy shakes his head and stands, pulling Sue with him. "We didn't mean any offense," he protests and cuts his eyes to his wives "We won't speak of the arena, will we, Sue?" she presses her lips together before nodding and sitting in her own chair. "Just sit and rest, ya can't have gotten a full night in god knows how long."

"Billy" Sue warns and he holds his hand up.

I know I should leave.

Not only for my own safety but for theirs.

I'm bringing danger just being here.

"What about it, girl?"

I shake my head. "People are looking for me" I mutter. "I don't know where they are but they're out there. It's dangerous for me to be here."

I make to move to door when a heavy hand falls on my shoulder, rooting me.

"Let her go, Billy" says Sue. "She's right."

Billy looks at his wife and shakes his head "Ya can't be serious."

Sue shrugs and looks at me. "It's no offense to you, I'm sure you're a real nice girl, but I can't have you here bringing the DayWalkers knocking on my door," she looks at her husband. "I've done my dues, I've paid the price. You can't ask me to risk myself anymore." Sue rubs the scars that line her arms and looks up at me. "Please go. I'll give you what we can spare, but I can't have you stay here."

I nod my head even as her husband shakes his head. "What is the matter with you?"

Sue opens her mouth but I cut her off. "She's right Billy," he looks at me. "Thank you both for what you've done, honestly. But I can't stay here."

"You can't go now" he protests and looks between me and his wife. "It's nearly dawn, ya'd be a sitting duck in the sun."

I open my mouth but he shakes his head. "You're staying, you need sleep and there's no way you can travel in the sunlight anyways," folds his arms over his chest "end of discussion." His eyes meet mine before his wives then turns and leaves, slamming the door behind him.

Sue sighs behind me and pushes her chair out. "I'll make up the couch."

_**xxx**_

Thunder fills the room as the door bangs against the outside of the cabin.

My body jolts upwards as hands grab the front of my tunic and pull me off the couch.

Whited eyes look down as me as Sue wipes at the blood that stains her face. Her fingers shake as she clenches fists of fabric.

I try to jerk away but she holds tight.

"This is all your fault" she whispers as she pulls her fist back, the sharp bones of her knuckles colliding with my healing face.

My head whips back, stars blooming in front of my eyes.

The next burst of pain brings the crack of her hand as it breaks the skin of my cheek.

She curses and shakes it out beside her, my head lulling in her grip.

"You killed him!" she shrieks and shakes my body, my neck snapping with the force. "He's dead because of you!"

She drops my shirt and grabs the length of my hair, standing she pulls me across his hardwood floor to the door. My scalp screams as I try to make my legs keep up with her heavy stride.

Dropping me next to the threshold she falls to her knees beside me and grabs the white hand that lays broken and still.

Bringing her body next to the broken and bloody mess before us she wails. Her screams ripping through the night and shattering the silence.

I can't meet his eyes.

Can't look at him.

My stomach twists and my heart thumps in my chest.

Closing my eyes I turn away.

"No!" she screams and grabs the back of my head, thrusting me down and grinding my face into the gaping cavity where his heart was. "You look at what you did!"

I shake my head, fighting her hold as his cooling blood paints my skin.

Her sobs shake against my back as she drops her head on my back.

"No, no, no" her whispers reach my ears, grinding into my skull as we lay with the Billy.

She cries on my for a long time before she realizes and pushes me away from her husband.

Looking at me, her face so twisted she doesn't look human.

"Get the fuck away from here" she hisses. "I told you to leave, why didn't you just leave?" she cries her shoulder vibrating as she leans over his mutilated body.

Both his legs had been broken, whether he was alive for it, I don't know. I can barely tell it's him, his face had been beaten so far you can barely make of the shape of his nose.

Someone tore his ribs open, like wings of a bird they lay spread to take off.

They took his heart.

I shake my head as I stumble out the door.

Around me the only sound that can be heard are the cries of the woman behind me.

"Sue" I whisper, my head falling forwards.

"Get away!" she screams and I turn, running from the sounds of her pain.

My fault.

I shake as the tears blur my vision.

My feet stumble as I run.

I run until I can't breathe.

I run until I can't hear her screams.

I run a long time.

_**xxx**_

"Don't scream," he whispers as his hand covers my mouth. "They'll hear you."

My eyes meet his and my fists clench at my sides, my bones aching with the anger that thrums through me.

I shift my head and dig my teeth into the fleshy part of his palm. The blunt edges cutting until I taste blood.

He hisses, his face contorting but he doesn't remove his hand.

The metallic tang paints my teeth as I jerk against his hold.

"You need to be quiet" he hisses against my ear before he looks over his shoulder and curses. "I don't have time to explain. We have to move."

Edward grabs my elbow and hauls me against him, his hand firmly attached to my face.

I fight against him, my legs kicking out at him and my free elbow jabbing into his stomach.

He oafs but doesn't make any more sound. Looking behind him again he grabs my body tightly and runs in the opposite direction.

My legs stumble and try to dig my feet into the ground beneath me.

I won't go back quietly. I won't behave.

I scream against his palm and he glares down at me.

Grunting when my foot collides with his calf he shakes off the pain and continues to pull me forward.

"I know you hate me, Bella" he huffs as we run. "But you have to trust me."

I throw my elbow again and he moves out of the way, and pulls me closer trapping my arm between our bodies.

We make a sharp turn and break through the wall of vegetation. Sunlight smacks me and I stumble against the onslaught.

Lifting me upright again, Edward pulls me forward into the rushing water of the river.

It's moving faster here, the water turning white as it smacks at the rocks.

I try to shake his hold as he moves us.

"Trust" he says and I'm hauled into the water.

My feet are swept out from under me and my head dunks under water.

Tightening his grip, Edward pulls me above the river line and brings my body against his.

Moving slowly, I can feel the pressure as the water beats at our skin.

Rushing water beats at my skull muffling the sound of a sharp whistle that gives behind us.

I turn to look at him and he grits his teeth, pulling me faster through the water.

I can feel his body shake with the strain of both our bodies and when his feet stumble beneath us, we go under, the water filling my nose and rushing my body dislodged body downstream.

My throat opens and I swallow water, my brain frantic.

I don't know which way is up and I'm tossed along the rocky bottom.

I can feel a hand grip my tunic and I'm pulled up. My body hacking at the water in my lungs.

"Fuck" he mutters as I'm pulled back against his body.

Dragging me behind him, Edward pushes me onto the bank first before hauling himself up and dropping beside me, his chest heaving with every breath.

The growl of angry canines sounds behind us and I turn to see the line of armed DayWalkers staring at their commander.

Emmett pushes to the front and cocks his gun, lifting the barrel towards us.

Edward's hand grips mine and I look at him as he thrusts us through the tree line and drops to our stomach as the bullet cracks and splinters a tree behind us.

"Find me away around!" I hear the new commander shout. "Now!"

I listen over the rushing water as the whistle shrills again and the sounds of the dog's retreats.

I lay my head against the ground and heave at the air, trying to slow my ragging heart.

"They'll be over here in no time" Edward mutters and flips onto his back. "We'll have to get moving."

"What the fuck was that?"

"Father seems to really want you back" he shakes his head. "They'd have given up by now if he didn't"

"Not that" I grit. "This" I wave between us. "_That_" I hook my thumb to the river behind us.

"I saved you" he says as he pushes himself up. "Again."

"You tried to kill me!"

He frowns and holds his hand out to help me up. "Pretty sure I just saved you."

I bat his hand away. "You sent them after me, Edward, I heard them. They killed a good man!" I stand and move away from him. "Stay away from me."

"Bella" he says as he moves towards me as I step back.

"I didn't send them anywhere," he shakes his head. "They found me right after you took off and I lied." He sighs and looks at me again, his face drawn tightly. "I lied, told them I was looking for you too." He steps towards me again. "I didn't have anything to do with the man, Bella" he says and I look at him. "You have to believe me; I was gone by then, looking for you." He shakes his head, dropping it and rubbing his face.

"Fuck" he mutters.

I press my lips together and turn away from him, my body shaking with the wind that whips through the trees.

"We better go."

* * *

><p><strong>an: the biggest thank you to all of you who stuck it and waited for me. I don't know if this was worth the wait, but hopefully it won't be nearly as long next time!**

**Massive hugs to you all.**


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